


Sanditon: Choked Elopement

by M_K_Dockery



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019), Sanditon - Jane Austen, Theo James - Fandom
Genre: Episode: s01e06 (Sanditon TV 2019), Episode: s01e07 (Sanditon TV 2019), Episode: s01e08 (Sanditon TV 2019), F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 83,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27077608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_K_Dockery/pseuds/M_K_Dockery
Summary: So, imagine if the journey to catch Georgiana was near the Scottish border as to opposed to just hours out of London.Imagine if there was talk about Sanditon and witnesses to the encounter by the cove. (Which there could have been)  The arguments in the street had a fair few witnesses like Mr. James Stinger.Imagine, if you will, that Charlotte makes Sidney feel righteously ashamed for the precarious position he put her reputation in. And now her help in finding Georgiana puts her in a very dangerous position. Alone with him.Alone in a carriage on a (7 day journey) yes that is how long it took from the south coast would RUIN her reputation.Imagine Sidney falling on a different sword.This story starts near the end of Episode 6 and follows many of the scenes word for word with only subtle changes to bring my narrative together and make the elopement fit.It deviates at the Sanditon Midsummer ball, and then it is my story and words from that point on. Hope you enjoy.Dedicated to the Sanditon Sisterhood.
Relationships: Alison Heywood/Mr. Crowe, Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Comments: 312
Kudos: 645





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am trying to stay away from fan fiction, but this (shorter diddy would not leave my head) 
> 
> Meant as a one shot, it does plan on following episode 7 and 8 and maybe a very different episode 9 as a finale to a proper austen end....we will see. But as readers of my other works know my work load and other emotional and family load. 
> 
> This was meant to be light and not heavy. Keeping it fun.

“We have Georgiana now,” Charlotte said confused when the driver proceeded forward towards Scotland. “Why are we still traveling north?” 

Sidney’s face tensed under the effect of her worded observation.

“Ah yes, that…” he nodded but did not look at her. His expression hard. “I suppose you are the one kidnapped now.” 

Charlotte looked to Georgiana who looked at Sidney confused and angry. 

“Sidney, you can’t be serious.” Georgiana protested loudly. 

Sidney swung his head around and rolled his eyes irritably. “I will hear nothing about your opinion on my choices Miss Lambe. Not when yours put you upon a similar path yourself. I am merely correcting a grave mistake that I have come to awareness on.” 

He winced and glanced at Charlotte. “I will be making you my wife come this night,” he spat as if it were a curse. 

Charlotte gasped. “No, Mr. Parker.” she shook her head. “When I told you that my reputation was in shreds I did not mean-“ she shuddered. 

Sidney grimaced. “Doesn’t matter, you will be appropriate enough tomorrow morning.” he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “After-all this adventure was enough to ruin you anyway.” 

Georgiana looked to Charlotte and shook her head. “Oh Charlotte, I am so sorry,” she whispered. 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, hush, I would have to agree, and I don’t. So what if my reputation is in ruins. I won't marry for anything less than love.” 

Sidney nodded curtly. “Ah, yes, love…but what of your sister?” 

Charlotte blinked. “My sister? 

He nodded. “I hear you have a few of them. Suppose they cannot marry because of your fall from society?” he asked. “How will that burden your family?” 

She felt the coach bump and she bumped and moved to catch herself. “But, we don’t get on at all.” she blinked. 

Georgiana held her bonnet and the rope on the side of the coach. “Sidney, cant we manage a story that won't require marriage?” 

Sidney shook his head. “I am afraid not.” he looked at her. “I had thought myself for a perpetual bachelor life, but I do not decide this lightly.” 

Charlotte frowned and shook her head. “But you have decided it entirely on your own.” 

He blinked and looked at her seriously. “Your agreement would be considered cooperative.” 

There across the border of England tucked away in the inn ordinary room at Gretna Green Sidney was able to purchase the use of a blacksmith halfway into his cups to wed them with witnesses. 

Charlotte had been unable to do more than mumble her words, and Sidney stood ramrod straight not looking at her through the ceremony. 

Tears clouded her eyes as she tried not to make a spectacle of herself. 

She hardly felt the kiss he brushed against her lips as the ceremony was concluded and their names added to the book and registry. 

“Will you be needing a room?” the innkeeper asked. 

Sidney looked at the man and shook his head. “No, just a meal for the carriage,” he said and refrained to look at his new wife. 

They all managed to sleep in the carriage. His new wife whom he was now looking at with softer eyes since their heated encounters in the streets of London was avoiding him as much as she could, but they both knew eventually they would need to face their actions. 

But for now, when they stopped at inns Georgiana and Charlotte took rooms together and he took a smaller room to himself. Wondering what it would be like to have a wife like Miss Heywood. No…Charlotte. Mrs. Parker. 

Upon reaching London Sidney cleared his throat. “For now, let us keep the marriage of Charlotte and I to ourselves,” he said to Georgiana. “We can announce it upon our return to Sanditon. It will be a good way to explain what happened with Georgiana, in saving her reputation. Tom is focused on the regatta. I am afraid this will all be too much of a distraction.”

Charlotte’s eyes caught him and he looked away. 

Leaving the carriage she found tom. 

“So lucky you found her. I got your message that it was right in time. Just at the border.” Tom explained. 

Sidney nodded and looked to the back of his wife as he passed wanting to stop her or something. A moment with her alone to discuss the life-changing process they have both gone through. 

“Prepare a bath for Miss Lambe,” Sidney ordered the housemaid. 

Georgiana looked tired as did Charlotte, but not near as much as Georgiana did. 

“What will happen to Otis now?” she asked. “The debtor's prison? Worse?” she asked holding his new wife’s hand who looked at him curiously. 

Arms clasped behind his back he leaned forward slightly. “He is no longer your concern.”

“Whatever he has done, I cannot cauterize my heart. I am not you.” Georgiana accused. 

Charlotte looked at him warily, his own eyes dropping in sadness. 

“This moment your world feels undone,” he said softly. “I know that. But you must put him from your mind or you will go mad,” he said his mouth going dry confessing this in front of his new wife. “Excuse me.” 

Later over afternoon drinks with his brother he told him of the adventure artfully leaving out that he was married but it had been left unconsummated thus far. 

“Good heavens Sidney, you have had quite the drama,” Tom said as Sidney poured himself another glass. “But all is well now.” 

Sidney looked over his shoulder and eyed his brother suspiciously. “Is it?” he asked. “I fear Georgiana’s spirit is broken. You have no idea how close to ruination she came, Tom.” 

“That’s hardly your fault,” Tom said. 

Sidney rolled his eyes mentally disagreeing. “Her father trusted her to my care. The man saved my life and in return, I fail to honor the one thing that he asked of me.” 

Tom put up his hand. “Still, no use dwelling on it. What's done is done.” 

Sidney sighed. “How can a man begin to make amends until he’s willing to face his own faults?” he asked rhetorically. “That’s why you came to London, is that not Tom?” Sidney asked. “To make amends?” he asked drinking the last of his glass. 

Tom shook his head. “Well, uh, no,” he said. “I came mainly to raise interest in the Regatta.”

“Tom.” Sidney’s dark voice stopped him. “I was present at the cricket.” 

Tom’s composure crumbled. 

“Be honest with me,” Sidney said. “Be honest with yourself.” 

Sighing heavily Tom leaned forward and placed his glass on the floor. “The truth is my situation is very grave indeed Sidney. I’ve knocked on half the doors in London. No one gives a damn about Sanditon or the Regatta. I have no means of paying my laborers. And worst of all I have lost the trust of my own dear wife perhaps forever.” Tom's eyes looked from him then back. 

Sidney sighed and smiled. “Well, we will raise interest in the Regatta yet. Babington will know where best to knock. As for the laborer's I shall lend you the money.”

“Sidney I cannot ask.” Tom protested. 

“Three thousand pounds was the amount, was it not?” Sidney asked. 

Tom shook his head. “My dear brother, it is too much. How…” 

Sidney sat down by him. “I’ll find a way,” he answered. “But when it comes to Mary, I am of no use,” he said softly. “I cannot pretend to understand the workings of a marriage. But what I do know is that I would do anything to be blessed with a wife such as yours.” he thought of charlotte. The one he had acted so rashly to make her such. Though she wasn’t really yet his wife. Not in truth. Yet. 

“So you must do whatever it takes,” he told his brother. 

——

Charlotte sat nervously. It had been two days and Mr. Sidney Parker had not been at the London house much and she was anxious about everything. Her fingers itched to write to her family since this had been the longest she had gone without writing and they were probably worried sick, but what should she say? She could not tell them that she was married. 

She did not feel married and she was not sure what she felt for the man she was supposed to call her husband. 

Mostly she felt shame. It was her actions that caused all of this. If it wasn’t for her she would not have made Sidney feel like he must marry her. 

“It’s all been so overwhelming,” she admitted breathlessly one afternoon to Tom. “Hardly know what to think anymore.” 

“About what my dear?” Tom asked ignorantly. 

she blew out a puff of air. “Oh, about anything. I have always felt so certain of my judgment, but now I see I have been blinded by sentiment and naivety. I have got it all so wrong.” she looked down sad. “No wonder your brother has such a poor opinion of me.” 

Tom laughed. “I am certain that is not the case. Sidney can be hard to read, that is all.” sitting beside her now companionably. “He is a conundrum.”

Charlotte frowned. “But a conundrum can be solved. He seems so determined to keep the world at arm's length.” 

Tom nodded. “That was not always the case. In his younger days, he was a very different man.” 

“Mary has spoken of a broken engagement?” she asked. 

Tom nodded. “Yes. Eliza, they were very much in love. But at the last moment, she passed him over in favor of an older and wealthier man. He set out on a rather self-destructive path.” Tom sighed. “In the end, I paid his debts and he sailed to Antigua in a bid to forget her. I fear the man he was, never quite returned.” 

Charlotte frowned as she listened to the story thinking of his reasons to distrust women. And how he would be driven to find comfort in places like the boarding house they went to. 

Hearing the commotion of the foyer from the parlor she could see Mr. Molyneux. 

“Mr. Molyneux,” she said rushing to the hall. 

Sidney was the one to speak. “I thought they at least deserved a proper parting.” he looked down slightly and her eyes fell. She had been so wrong about him and now it was all her fault. 

“This way.” His voice whispered to the man as he escorted him up. 

——

Charlotte tried to sit finishing her tea as she knew her hus- Mr. Sidney Parker was in his office and Otis was with Georgiana. 

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she almost missed Mr. Molyneux slipping out the door as softly as possible and without hope. 

“Otis!” she stopped him. “Will you not say goodbye?” 

He looked at her soberly. “Miss Heywood. I hardly thought you would want to speak to me.” 

She looked down. “What will you do now?” she asked. “How will you settle your other debts?” she asked. 

He looked calm. “My debts have all been paid. I have been shown a kindness I do not deserve.” 

Charlotte looked to the stair where Sidney walked with his head down. 

——

Lord Babington called that afternoon with energy. Sidney was hopeful that meant good news. Upon seeing the way the man stood he knew it was good so his posture relaxed. 

“I have it all in hand.” He whispered holding up a square paper. 

Sidney smiled and nodded following him into the parlor where Charlotte and Tom sat the hours. 

“Babington,” Tom said moving to stand. 

Lord Babington inclined his head in greeting. “Miss Heywood,” he said. “Well I’ve asked around, and as luck would have it Mrs. Mosley is holding a masked route this very evening in Grovner Square.” Smiling he handed off the paper. “And this is your invitation.” 

“My dear Lord Babington, you are a wonder,” he said looking at the finely engraved invitation which probably cost a fortune and would be displayed with pride in fine homes all around London for weeks.

“Sounds as if the entire London Beau Monde will be there,” he said glancing at Charlotte. “All of them eager to hear about our Regatta.” 

Lord Babington smiled. “And you must come as well, of course, Miss Heywood.” 

Sidney looked beyond them to her. His breath held a moment reflecting on her name. Miss Heywood, she wasn’t truly any longer, yet they had not yet gotten around to correcting that fact. 

“Thank you Lord Babington, but I am not really in the mood to be sociable.” her voice sounded caught and rough to him. “Excuse me.” 

He had to refrain from the desire to stop her, to protest in front of the audience. He needed a moment alone with her. Somehow. 

He stole away rather quickly to find her. 

“Tom sent me up in the hope you would reconsider to come to the party tonight. The Regatta was your idea, after all.” he lied about Tom sending him. 

Tom had not given her refusal even a thought. He smiled to disarm her. To coax her to agree. 

She turned to him. Her stance was nervous. “Why did you pay off Otis’s debts?” she asked. 

“I came to the realization that a good man should not be condemned for one terrible mistake,” he told her. 

Her head dropped. “Mr. Parker,” he wondered if she would ever call him Sidney. “I owe you an apology. I accused you of the worst kind of prejudice when I-“

His feet pulled him close as she started to apologize. “I do not accept your apology,” he said simply. 

Her eyes looked afraid of him. His words had been harsh on her so many times. She was afraid once again of his sting. 

“Because I am the one that should apologize,” he said feeling a lump form in his throat. Unaccustomed to the condition of being contrite. 

“I have done you a great discourtesy.” he continued wanting to call her Charlotte, but could not will that from his mouth. Nor could he form her name as Miss Heywood when he knew legally it was Mrs. Parker. 

“I have underestimated you.”

——

Awaiting at the bottom of the stair that evening he stood calm. He was pleased to hear that she had changed her mind but had not a moment further to spare to discuss the matter. He had doors still to knock upon and fetching a dress for her took a fair chunk out of the afternoon. 

Lord Babington’s sister was very nearly Charlotte’s equal in form, besides being a little shorter. He hoped the dress Babers had selected would suit her. He had selected for himself a vest to match. 

Tom was anxious as he wanted to arrive early so as to have the full attention of early patrons but Sidney knew Charlotte was not taking an overly long time at her mirror. Besides arriving early was considered desperate. 

Soon he heard footsteps coming down and he could not deny his breath caught. She was a vision. He found himself just looking at her face. She looked so pleased. 

“Does it not suit me?” she asked. “Will, it not do?” 

He looked down with a smile hardly able to form words for a moment. 

“It will do very well,” he answered thinking far more than that. 

What he did not see was how her face fell. 

Inside the carriage, he sat next to her. Under the eyes of his brother, he did not feel that he could make any headway between them, but he was feeling hopeful. He wanted to look at her in the shadowed carriage and tell her really how well she looked. 

But that would need to wait. Perhaps at the ball, he would have a moment to speak his real mind. 

—— 

“Upon my word, there can hardly be a person worth a fig left in London who is not here,” Tom said assuredly. “You don’t need to see their faces to know that these are people of influence.” 

Sidney stayed close to Charlotte whom he felt was more than nervous. 

“The brother's Parker.” Came Mr. Crowe’s drunken voice. 

“Well, most people,” Tom said as he stepped down. 

Mr. Crowe had noticed the lady with them. “And who is this spellbinding creature?” he asked noting the bountiful bosom. “I command you introduce us at once Sidney.” 

Crowe laughed but Lord Babington was not amused. “This is Miss Heywood you fool.” 

Crowe looked reasonably surprised. “Oh Miss Heywood, I would not have known you,” he said with slight shame. “That mask becomes you,” he said. 

Looking slightly mortified to Sidney she sighed. “Thank you, Mr. Crowe, if that was indeed a compliment.” 

Lord Babington smiled amused by her retort. 

“Now we must all remember why we are here,” Tom said suddenly breaking the uncomfortable faux pa. “To spread the word of the Sanditon Regatta.” He reached for some champagne. “Like Nelson, I expect every man to do his duty, aye, and woman.” 

Mr. Crowe took a glass. “I did not come here to work. I came to imbibe, choruses, and generally make an ass of myself,” he said sending a las glance to Charlotte before he made his escape. 

Tom went in the opposite direction. 

Lord Babington still facing them looked to Sidney. “Good luck.” he clinked his glass. 

“Well, Miss Heywood.” he said saying her maiden name. “are you not glad you came after-all?” he asked taking a drink. 

She pulled down her mask exposing an anxious face. “I cannot say that I am,” she confessed. “I feel dreadful leaving Georgiana. At least I am glad of the mask,” she said with a momentarily relieved smile. “I am certain I do not belong in this company.” 

“I don’t think I do either,” he confessed. 

“But this is your natural habitat is it not?” she asked. 

He smiled at yet another of her prejudgements masked in a question. “Perhaps I do not truly belong anywhere. As you said. I am an outlier.” He smiled. “Shall we get to the mission then?” he asked. 

She nodded and preceded him to the floor. 

“I cannot see how conversation is even possible when the room is so loud and everyone is on the move…” she commented. 

Sidney followed. “No one is here for conversation.” he looked about. “They are here to be seen. “Once their presence is acknowledged they move on to the next gathering.” 

She turned. “I think I would like to leave now too… With your permission,” she asked. 

He smiled thinking of their new dynamic as man and wife. “With my permission? Since when have you required my permission to do anything?” he baited her to speak of the moment they both said I do. The moment they accepted that fate. 

She looked tongue-tied before him. “I know…” she breathed. “I am too headstrong, too opinionated, too-“ 

He stopped her. “No, you are not too anything. Don’t doubt yourself,” he told her. “You’re more than equal to any woman here,” he said honestly. He was just about to speak of their state of matrimony when Lord Babington appeared. 

“Well I hate to admit defeat, but the word regatta seems to be falling on deaf ears.” his friend said defeated. 

“Sidney!” His brother waved at him in desperation. 

“Right,” he sighed, regretfully. “Excuse me,” he said leaving her side. 

—— 

Charlotte nervous about their interaction watched Sidney leave and clung to the only other person near her in the room she knew. 

“Um, I noticed you and Miss Denham were enjoying each other's company at the cricket match?” she asked in a manner of comment. 

Lord Babington nodded. “Yes, I thought so too, Miss Heywood.” he looked back to her. “But apparently I was mistaken. 

He shifted uncomfortably. “You are a woman Miss Heywood, tell me this… Is it possible for your affections towards a man to alter entirely in the space of a single day?” 

Charlotte, overcome with her thoughts about Sidney Parker the last number of days could not think straight. Lord Babgintons questions felt like a slap in the face. 

In fact, her own feelings had altered so much that she felt absolutely wretched. More awful than she did the day after Sidney first set her in her place. Her pride had been sore, but she had tried to be humble and correct, but in the end, she had let her ego take over. And how wrong she had been and put them all in such a ruinous path. 

Georgiana’s reputation in tatters and her own in questionable condition. It was anyone's guess at this point what anyone knew about her adventure to Scotland. But she did not think she could let one good man be condemned for her mistakes. 

“Ugh, forgive me, Lord Babington,” she said. “This room is rather too crowded. I find it hard to breathe,” she confessed. 

“Of course,” he said.

Escaping to what she believed was an empty room she sighed out frustrated a few times. 

“My sentiments exactly.” came a voice from behind her. 

“Oh I am sorry, I thought I was-“ Charlotte apologized. 

The elegant woman sat with a book in hand. “Oh, it is quite alright. I cannot blame you for seeking a safe harbor,” she said to her. “It is an altogether tedious gathering.” 

She smiled to herself. “and now you will tell me that Mrs. Mosely is your mother and I have committed an unspeakable solecism.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, no. I do not know her in the slightest,” she confessed. “Indeed I barely know a soul in London.” she fiddled with her mask stick. “What I have seen of the place that is no great hardship.

The woman leaned forward. “If you dislike London so much, then why are you here?” she asked. 

Charlotte shook her head and came closer to sit. “My friend Georgiana was abducted. She is an heiress you see, and her suitor Mr. Molyneux had accrued gambling debts he could not pay. So she was sold into a forced marriage.” she explained. 

The woman who she still did not know blinked. “How simply shocking.”

Charlotte nodded. “It was,” she admitted. “Anyway, thank god we found her in time and now she is safe,” she said not mentioning her own semi-forced marriage across the border. “But Mr. Tom insisted we come tonight to spread the word of the Sanditon Regatta, but as you see I am singularly failing in that task.” she held her breath anxiously. “Forgive me… I am inclined to talk too much. Mrs,?” she asked. 

“Susan,” the woman replied. “and who might you be.” 

Charlotte hesitated. “Charlotte Heywood.” 

The woman looked her over seriously. “Forgive me for asking Charlotte, but you seem somewhat befuddled,” she said. 

“Do I?” she asked. Was she so transparent? 

Susan nodded. 

Charlotte swallowed the lump in her throat. “There is a certain gentleman.” My husband, she thought to herself. “Mr. Sidney Parker, Mr. Tom Parkers brother.” she clarified. “He has inspired an anger in me that I did not know I possessed, and yet his good opinion of me means more to me than anybody else,” she confessed. “How can that be?” she asked. 

The kind lady listened and leaned in. “It sounds to me as though you are in love with him,” she said. 

Charlotte stood up as if prodded. “What?” she shook her head. “No. I assure you that could not be further from the truth. If I should ever fall in love it would not be with a man like him.” she protested. 

Susan laughed. “My dear girl, you cannot determine who you fall in love with. It is an affliction. Like the measles.” 

“Ah, there you are.” came the man in question. “I was beginning to think you made your escape,” he said. 

“Might I presume you are Mr. Sidney Parker? We were just discussing you.” Susan said with a smile. 

Sidney smiled. “Right, Well ugh, I was wondering if I Miss Heywood would like to dance, that is if I was not interrupting that is,” he said. 

Susan shook her head. “Not in the least.” 

Sidney stood forward and offered her his arm. 

“Excuse us,” he said taking her to the floor. 

——

Taking her arm in his he took her to the floor as the current song ended he looked at her. He had wanted to eves drop but in such a crowded place such activities were difficult. Instead, he opted to go to her and ask her to dance. The very thing he had been unable to put out of his mind since Lord Babington suggested the ball. 

“You did not have to ask me, you know…out of politeness,” she said uncomfortably. 

“It's what people do at dances is it not?” he said. “Dance? Unless you would rather not.” 

She was distressed as she held his hand. “No, it’s only…there are so many other ladies here that you could ask,” she said nervously. 

He smiled at her nerves. “But I don’t want to dance with them,” he confessed. 

He bowed, his eyes open looking into her guarded ones as they stepped closer to each other. 

The song and the steps felt like some sort of a metaphor to the pull and the push they had between the two of them. It felt powerful. 

She slipped her hand into his and he took her to him. Held her closer than all the others as the strings played coyly. 

He smiled genuinely enjoying the ball. For an outlier, he was feeling perfectly happy where he was. 

When the song came to its end he forgot to spin her from him. His hand still on her back, her body pressed close to him he could feel her breath. 

He did not wish to let her go. His wife… He desired her. 

Feeling excited at this revelation he remembered their surroundings and bent forward in an almost shy bow. 

Noticing Eliza he felt his world tilt.

“Thank you, Miss Heywood,” he whispered as Tom approached them. 

“Might I have the pleasure of the next dance Charlotte or has Sidney worn you out?” Tom asked attempting to free his brother from a second dance. 

“Not at all, it would be my pleasure,” she answered. 

Sidney glanced again at Eliza, still painfully curious. 

With Charlotte accepting his brother he was obliged to let her go. 

Like a magnet, he was pulled to that woman. “Mrs. Campion.” His mouth uttered. 

She dropped her mask. 

“Sidney.” she addressed him by name. Emotions bubbled up from long-buried depths and he smiled.  
——

“How happy I am to see the light return to your eyes, Charlotte,” Tom said observing how giddy Charlotte suddenly felt after the dance with his brother. 

She laughed. “There is nothing like dancing to restore one's spirits,” she answered. 

“Quite so, my dear. Quite so.” Tom answered. “Seems to have had a similar effect on Sidney. 

Charlotte looked at Tom hopeful. “Do you think so?” she asked. 

Tom met her hands in a bridge while dance partners passed. “It’s undeniable. He is positively revived. But then perhaps that is not due to the dancing but due to the presence of a certain young lady.” 

She blushed. “Which young lady do you have in mind sir?” she asked. 

Tom nodded. “He is talking to her now. Mrs. Campion. It’s unmistakably her.” he said with confidence. 

Charlotte’s face fell. 

“How strange that we were just discussing her just this afternoon,” he said. “I’d heard she’d been widowed, though I had no idea she was in London. 

Charlotte noticed the ashamed look Sidney had as he looked away from the dance floor then back at the woman he talked to. 

“I do not recall discussing a Mrs. Campion,” she said to Tom confused. 

“Oh, I dare say I referred to her by her Christian name, Eliza. Perhaps they will have their chance at happiness after all,” he said with hope. 

Lord Babington came up. “Tom, a moment.” 

“Excuse us.” 

Charlotte felt breathless. She had no real claim on him besides a secret elopement and an entirely unconsummated marriage. Despite all that, her heart had gone from soaring to shattering as he spoke to the true love of his life. He looked happy, relaxed.

——

Back at the house, he paced in front of her door. He had every right. she was his wife. In all but body now. 

He had sensed it then, her openness then there was Eliza.

Swallowing his pride, his nerves he knocked. 

She opened the door. “Mr. Parker?” she squinted. 

He leaned in. “We need to talk about our marriage,” he whispered. 

She looked at him and swallowed. “What?” moving through the door he turned and shut it behind him. 

“I want to announce it,” he said. “Tomorrow.” his mouth went dry. “I don’t want you going back to Sanditon,” he said. “I still have business here to manage for Tom and for my own interests now that I am so heavily invested.” 

Charlotte blinked pulling the blanket around her modestly. “But the Regatta, I have been promising to help.” 

He nodded. “You can help me and we can become more acquainted.” 

She blinked confused. “Why do you want me to stay?” 

He shook his head. “Why do you think?” he stepped closer. “You are my wife. It has been over a week and we haven’t so as a moment to let this change sink in.” 

She stepped back. “I don’t feel married. I don’t know if we suit.” she put her hand to his chest to keep the space and his hand went to hers. 

He shook his head. “We suit better than most,” he answered and moved her hand up to his chest to hover over his heart. 

“It is wrong,” she whispered. 

He nodded. “We eloped. It is a scandal.” he leaned forward with emotion, “but not enough of a one to ruin either of us. Perhaps will even help Sanditon.” his mouth now closed. 

“We don’t know how bad the scandal is,” she whispered pulling her hand from his chest. He felt the loss with stark clarity. “And I don’t think one good man should suffer forever for another’s mistake. My mistake,” she told him clenching her hand which was still warmed by him. 

“I will go back to Sanditon,” she said with resolve. “I know, I was wrong in my judgment of you, those misjudgments and my actions forced you into this decision and a choice that would have not been your own.” her lip trembled with the emotion of her apology. “Surely marriage to me was not in your imaginings.” 

He wanted to stop her. To explain that it was more than all of that but instead she continued. 

“You are not the man I once thought you to be, and for my mistakes, I humbly beg your pardon,” she answered. “You should be free to finally be with the person you really love.” 

He shook his head realizing she was hurt by his abandonment of her.

“You are my wife.” the last word but a whisper. 

She swallowed. “No, I am not. Some words over a Scottish blacksmiths anvil and a piece of paper that can be burned…” he tried to protest but she stopped him. “If I were really your wife you would not have left me on the dance floor to seek out a past love,” she said and tried to smile. 

“Only Georgiana knows and she thinks we were fools.” she tried to laugh through her pain. “We haven’t con- consu…” she shook and decided not to finish her word. “Georgiana would never breath a word.” 

He looked down from her tear pooled eyes. So often brought to cry because of him. His hand wanted to drift up to her face and catch them before one fell but she opened the door for him to leave. 

“It all can be properly forgotten as if it never happened,” she whispered. 

He swallowed and wondered what would have happened if he had not left her on the dance floor earlier that evening. Would he have been able to run his hands through her unbound hair that hung down? 

“Good night Mr. Parker,” she said as she looked out to the deserted hallway. 

His shoulders dropped and he turned. “I will keep the certificate for now. But upon my return we shall discuss it again,” he said quietly. His eyes moved up her length regretfully. Her bare feet exposed. 

She was his wife and yet he felt like he had little right to her. He understood her feelings, but she was utterly wrong about mistakes being hers. He shared in many mistakes concerning the path that led to their elopement, he just wasn’t fully sure he regretted it. At the moment felt more than willing to pay the fine or debt. 

“Goodnight Miss Heywood,” he whispered. 

Going to the parlor he poured himself another drink trying to quell the general unease the night had given him. He had realized he truly desired the woman he had hastily made his wife, and just when he thought something remarkable had happened, his heart had cracked open a little he looked to his left and noticed a mask drop and the familiar coy face of a former love.

He did not even realize he had done it, but he left his new bride, his beautiful dance partner. She had just seconds ago enflamed him and then as if splashed by a bucket of cold briny water he was pulled from that depth back to the old gravitation around the oldest flame. 

Perhaps if he had not let go of Charlotte’s hand. Maybe if he had not looked to his left and consented to take her to the garden… Perhaps… 

He threw back the bitter drink and winced. 

“Troubled dear brother?” Tom asked. 

Sidney turned and gave him his tight, unconvincing smile. “Fine.” 

“Eliza looked ravishing tonight,” Tom said sitting down relaxed. 

Sidney tensed at the mention of her name. 

“Newly widowed, and she had been asking about you, brother,” Tom said with a smile. “I do think she had missed you.” 

Sidney’s eyes drifted down to the fire. His confession of marriage to Charlotte on the tip of his tongue but he bit it. 

“Yes, well…” he cleared his tight throat. 

Tom smiled. “I told her that you would be happy to escort her, and her friends to Sanditon for the Regatta.” 

Sidney turned and looked at him surprised. “You what?” 

He smiled. “You know we need the interest,” he said innocently. “She is rich, she has rich friends.”

Clenching his jaw Sidney looked up and closed his eyes pained. “Tom, I really must say you-“

Tom nodded. “I know, I have entirely overstepped. But I am a desperate man Sidney. If you married her, we would be solvent again.” he said. 

Sidney looked at him as if he had entirely lost his mind. 

“Married?” he asked him. 

Tom nodded and sighed. “I know, I know brother. It is a lot to think about, but is it not providence?” he drank, “You do not intend to remain a bachelor forever, and this family needs a miracle.”

Tom shook his head. 

“We are not so lost, Tom,” Sidney answered him. “Have you really obliged me to escort her?” he asked. 

Tom nodded. “I also invited her to Trafalgar House. Reintroductions should be in order if you are to court her?” He smiled. 

Sidney grimaced. He had been seriously contemplating making his marriage complete in its fullness that night and here his brother was imagining him a bigamist. 

This was becoming more complicated than it needed to be. He should have just told them all when they arrived. Now Charlotte was not even trying to save her reputation. She was willing to fall on the sword for his own chance at love and that pulled at him. 

Sidney turned from his brother for fear he would punch him. He wanted to throw the glass against the wall. To shout, but instead, he shook his head and sighed. “Goodnight Tom,” he said leaving him to the miserable night which had started so promisingly. 

——


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This followed the Episode VERY closely, but there are fun little easter eggs that seem to just FIT in with the episode. 
> 
> As to Chapter 3, that will deviate A LOT from what came on the show about 1/3 of the way though the chapter, and will probably come in about five or 6 days, and will be the end of the project.

The return to Sanditon was silent. Tom was anxious, Georgiana despondent, and Charlotte could not describe her emotion. 

Standing before the gravely ill Lady Denham, she swallowed solemnly her pity. 

How the old woman would chide her on such hypocrisy of action. Marrying a rich man when she so vehemently denied her intent to marry at all, let alone one that was wealthy and had good connections and for anything less than love. 

But she might love him… 

It was a blessing the woman did not know anything of it. That no one did. 

Georgiana had understood that they wished to keep it a secret and Charlotte had confessed that she did not wish it had ever happened at all, in private of course. 

Soon it would all be over. Perhaps she could even return home early. She had given great thought to ask to return home shortly after the Regatta. There had been talk of the new gown. It would be best that she leave before any more funds were wasted on her with the fitting. 

Looking upon the poor old woman she wondered how much the town depended on her. If all would be well if she were to die? 

Turning she left contemplating how she was to endure the next two days. 

Mr. Sidney Parker was to come soon, and she did not know how to begin to set that situation to rights. 

Listening to Doctor Foughs dark warning of Lady Denham’s condition lingered over the group rendering many of them unable to know how to feel. 

Charlotte sensed Sir Denham faked his despondency, but it was Esther Denham’s genuine effect that caught Charlotte by surprise. In stark contrast to the lack of honest emotion from Clara. Charlotte could see now that she had clearly judged the people around here again, incorrectly. 

In the subsequent carriage ride back to Trafalgar House, Charlotte listened carefully to the conversation between Mary and Tom. 

“Surely you must postpone the Regatta, our of respect,” Mary said. “She is gravely ill. Everyone else can accept it. Why not you?” She asked. 

“Don’t you see it, Mary?” Tom asked. “She cannot die, because then I will be left without a principal investor.” 

Mary shook her head. “She is on her death bed, and your only concern is what that will mean for your town.” she was ashamed of him. 

Clutching his cane anxiously before him he looked ahead. “Without her investment, I should sooner face bankruptcy. Everything, our house, our security would be at risk,” he confessed. 

Mary suddenly understood the gravity of how heavily her husband had gambled on this obsession he had. 

“I am just speaking frankly, Mary.” he turned to her. “As you wished.” 

Mary blushed with shock. “I see.” 

Charlotte was embarrassed to overhear, but to know they were even more so on the verge of ruin was worse, and that she was in the way of a solution with Eliza. 

It was as if there were nearly daily signs that screamed to her the utter foolishness of her marriage to Mr. Sidney Parker. When he knew of this new impediment he would probably agree just as quickly and although that relieved her, it also struck her painfully. 

It choked her.

——

Arriving to see his ward he found Georgiana abed in heavy depression. He had seen it before. 

“Send him away,” she answered miserably. 

He entered anyway and circled the bed. 

“I have no wish to speak to anyone least of all you,” she said. 

He went to the window. “Come, Georgiana. It’s about time you ventured outside.” 

“Leave then!” she demanded. 

Sighing he came to her bed and sat down beside her. 

“I am all too aware that I have fallen short as your guardian,” he told her. “But please believe that I am sincere in my desire to make amends,” he told her. 

She lay before him emotionless. “Men like you cannot change.” 

He swallowed. 

“What about the new Mrs. Parker?” she asked. “I see you have made no announcement. I suppose the sickly Lady Denham, and other such gossip has saved Charlotte’s reputation enough that your grand gesture was rendered pointless.” she rolled her eyes and turned. 

He sighed and did not answer, and she went on. 

“You must have burned the certificate so that you can have your rich heiress.” she scoffed. “When you judged Otis so harshly. I fail to see the difference between the two of you.” 

He cleared his throat and thought about Eliza and how he was to escort her to the Regatta the next day. It was hardly a contract. 

How he was supposed to act solicitous and charming while things were completely confused between him and Charlotte. 

“Indeed, I judged Otis wrong. If I could go back perhaps I would have spoken to him differently. Warned him away from gambling if he wanted to see you.” he offered. “But I thought at the time I was doing right by you,” he said. “I see now I made mistakes, I have been trying to make amends.” 

She swallowed. “Perhaps the ones with Charlotte should be next on your list,” she said turning from him more fully. “Before the ones with me. She is not a plaything to take out and amuse yourself with whenever you fancy.” 

He swallowed and looked away in thought. 

——

Charlotte noticed Mr. Stringer coming up the street with his father on the cart. 

“Mr. Stringer.” she smiled brightly. 

“Well met Miss Heywood.” he greeted her. “Feels I’ve hardly seen you since you got back from London,” he said. 

She blinked and shook her head. “No…” she had actually been avoiding him. In a way, for a time she wasn’t a free woman. 

“We must remedy that,” she said blushing. “Perhaps we will have time for more substantial conversation tomorrow?” she asked. “at the Regatta?” 

Mr. Stringer smiled. “Till tomorrow then,” he said as he stepped aside letting her pass. 

The truth was she did not know what to say but he had always been polite, and kind, and well…more than handsome. If things had never become quite so complicated then she would have had butterflies over that conversation, but instead, her stomach dropped. 

Coming to the door to visit Georgiana she left herself in. 

Upon rising the stairs she was surprised to find her would-be husband. 

He greeted her with a smile. “Ah, Miss Heywood,” he said her maiden name. It weighed heavily on his tongue like a lie. 

“Mr. Parker.” she tried to sound unaffected. “How did you find her?” 

He looked around to the door. “Oh, I dare say you will have more luck.” He walked past her and she felt relief but then he turned and stopped before going down. 

“I uh,” he crossed his arms behind him. “I might wait for you downstairs if you don’t mind?” he asked. 

She shook her head. They had to speak sometime. “No. Not at all.” 

——

“Thank you for letting me walk with you,” Sidney said as they started their journey. He found himself glancing to the side thinking on her and what he and Georgiana were talking of about amends. 

Charlotte smiled and nodded. “Of course. What is it you wish to speak of?” she asked. 

He cleared his throat. “Well of Georgiana. She hasn't been out of bed in days I hear, and eats but the most little she can.”

“You must be patient with Georgiana,” Charlotte said simply. “Every minute spent apart is well, you know how sharp the agony of separation can be,” she said with a glance to him. 

He looked at her and nodded. “Hey, I expect you are right,” he answered her. “Although fate has a strange way of surprising even the most jaded amongst us.” 

She looked at him and frowned. “You are not nearly as unfeeling as you pretend.” 

He smiled and found his heart rising a moment. “Well if that is the case I would ask you to keep it to yourself. I have a reputation to uphold.” 

“Your secret is safe with me.” she smiled. 

He smiled back. He was surprised when she ventured to speak further. 

“Lady Denham being so ill has Tom very worried,” she said. 

He nodded. “I imagine it does, her being his principal investor.” 

Charlotte frowned. “Well, there is something else. I don’t think he purchased any hazard insurance.” she started nervously. 

Sidney frowned and shook his head. “I am sure you are mistaken. Someone does not go into a project of this magnitude without procuring heavy insurance against losses.” he felt his temper flare. “I mean. Anything can happen. I know my brother is impulsive, but he is not a fool.” he said feeling defensive. His voice had raised an octave. 

Charlotte winced. “I apologize. I seem to have overstepped again.…Of course.” she shook her head embarrassed and looked away from him as she winced. 

“It is none of my business. I just thought you should know what I believe I may have seen…” she winced. “If you haven’t you must burn the certificate without delay because I intend to return to Willingden as soon as I can, and we can put it all behind us. You can see that there is little gossip. Too much happening to worry about me. There was really no need for our foolishness. No one really cared about our adventure.” she winced. 

“My apologies for my repeated intrusions on your life, your family. I promise they are nearly at their end.” she curtsied swiftly before he could. “Good day, Mr. Parker.” 

He was unable to stop her before he could think as she walked from him hurriedly. 

Smacking his cane on a box frustrated he turned and went the opposite direction. 

He was in a mood now. The conversation had hardly gone the way he intended. What were his intentions? 

Could his feelings had been engaged again? 

He had originally been obliged to escort Eliza and her society dandies to the regatta but he had contrived an excuse at the last moment involving his ward's delicate emotional state. But had promised to meet her promptly that very afternoon. 

He was late. 

There at the crown Hotel, he found her. In a fashionable pastel purple. She looked around the town with a somewhat displeased expression. That was until she spied him. 

“Oh, Sidney! You have come, finally,” she said seeing her trunk brought down. “I had expected you to be here to greet me,” she said with a slight reproach. 

Sidney answered with a tight and diplomatic grin.

“Ah yes, business kept me. I did try to hurry it. Business you see.” he explained. “Do you have your room? Are all things to your satisfaction?” he asked. 

She smiled. “You said there was great growth to the town Sidney, now it seems I have come to see you a liar.” she teased. “The roads are still as yet un-cobbled.” She giggled. 

He looked down at the muddied streets. “So is two-thirds of London,” he scoffed realizing it was two-thirds of the city she likely never saw. Sighing uncomfortable he tried to brush off the awkwardness with a smile. “Come, I should bring you to Trafalgar House. Tom wished you to come for the afternoon.” 

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, but first show me about a little?” she asked batting her eyes. “I have so been looking forward to a moment with you.” 

He nodded and looked about. As they fell into a stroll he found himself lost inside his own head. Filled with echoes of the conversation he had just had. Mind not quite on the one he was about to have with Eliza. 

“This town is just as I remember,” she said turning around the bend. 

He looked around. “At first glance perhaps,” he answered casually. “It’s always to be expected that things would have altered after all this time.” he thought of himself, and their situation. He did not feel free despite how it seemed. Even if he was, he was growing suspicious that he was not the same man that he once was. 

“I hardly suppose that either of us are entirely the same people we once were,” he told her. 

Eliza watched him beside her. “Are we not?” She asked. “I believe I am the same girl I ever was.”

“But who’s to say that I am the same man?” he asked her. 

“You are,” She turned to face him directly. “I knew it the moment I saw you in London.” 

He could not deny the continued effect her smile, and her confidence still had on him. It almost made him think it was true. 

“You know I am very glad you decided to accept our invitation. But I wasn’t entirely sure you would see the appeal of a provincial town regatta.”

She smiled as if he was some young boy. “I am not here for the Regatta, Sidney.” she turned. “I am here for you.” 

Watching her walk he sighed and closed his eyes. Eliza was always quite direct. Even when she had passed him over for another. Never one to beat about the bush, unlike himself who was known to be abrasive but seldom to the real point. Always artfully dancing around it. 

Falling a little behind her he was in deep thought. 

“So this is Trafalgar House.” Eliza lookd around at the stoop. “Such a grand design.” 

Sidney smiled tightly as he rang the bell hoping Charlotte was still out as he looked up and down the street. Wishing to avoid crossing paths at that time. 

Their certificate burned a hole in his breast pocket. 

He recalled that she wished to leave for home at the soonest opportunity. All that awaited them was the burning of the proof of their marriage. 

“Mary.” Sidney greeted his sister-in-law warmly. 

“Oh Sidney, and Mrs. Campion. How lovely it is to see you again,” she said looking at her with a warm but still guarded expression. Sidney knew Mary to be warm and forgiving but he knew she was being careful now. 

Sidney looked around slightly anxious noting the children were in the house. That meant that Charlotte was likely also in the house. 

Tom came and joined them in the parlor. “Run along upstairs.” He said to the children. 

“And you will stay for the Regatta?” Mary asked. 

“Yes,” Elisa replied. “I look forward to it.”

“Ah, Tom.” Sidney looked to his brother with meaning. “Remember Mrs. Campion?” His jaw clenched and Tom’s eye twitched in veiled embarrassment. 

“Sidney has asked Eliza to stay for the Regatta,” Mary said ignorant of the truth of the scheme. 

“Welcome, Welcome,” Tom said casually. 

Just as the words were said Sidney looked down the hall. To the woman who confounded him, and aroused an anger inside of him even Eliza did not. 

The woman who was so intimately, yet flimsily was tied to him that it would just take the flick of his wrist into the fire and it would all but turn to ash. 

His throat tightened and he felt choked by guilt. He did not feel free to have another woman’s hand resting on his arm. But he had been obligated by his ignorant brother and his own silence. 

If he had only had a chance to explain that all to Charlotte, but then she went and accused his brother of not having insurance for the apartments. Which had to have been incorrect. Perhaps she was right about them being ill-suited. He never seemed to be able to stop barking at her like a bulldog. 

With Eliza, he would never shout like he had been known to at Charlotte. Eliza did not rouse the same anger inside of him. Even after all she had done. 

The pleasantries fell on deaf ears as he pondered the wide brown eyes that he felt watching them for a moment then slip away because when he looked back up she was gone and he felt rattled. 

The pain of separation, echoed in his mind keenly. 

Embarrassingly. 

——

The next day-

Sidney looked down the beach and his eyes drifted over his estranged wife’s form, sitting among the children. Her back was to him.

Still his wife, on account of the good hour he spent sitting with the paper in hand. His eyes reading the document over and over that made her in legality Mrs. Sidney Parker. Finally, about to decide to let her go he was interrupted by a knock and he tucked it back in his pocket rather than thoughtlessly toss it. 

He felt he owed it more respect than that. 

Even a long swim that morning had not helped him that day reconcile himself. She would remain his wife one more day and only that. 

“At the last regatta, I attended they raced Arab stallions,” Eliza said with emphasis as if he should be impressed with her vast experiences. His attention was torn from his thoughts briefly. 

“The one before that featured eight clippers, in full sail.” She continued and he found he was entirely bored. But not before noting the snobbery in her tone. 

“But for sheer exhilaration, what could compare to a sandcastle competition?” she asked in playfulness that he found almost mocking in the provincial quality he found charming. 

“Well, this is no ordinary sandcastle competition.” he defended knowing that she poked at the event. “Look at this one for instance.” he came to the one with his nieces and nephew, and his… 

“Miss Heywood.” He greeted her. “A handsome construction and I assume you and Henry are the architects.” He reached down and picked up the little rascal Henry and lightly tossed him. Within the company of Eliza, he had trouble meeting Charlotte’s eyes though he wanted to. 

“Oh no, that would be Jenny. I am merely a laborer,” she said looking shy before them. 

Sidney laughed. “Well, it is a fine piece of work, and it doesn’t win, there is no justice is there, Henry?” he asked the sandy child in his arms. 

“No,” the child said simply. 

“No,” Sidney said simply setting the child down. 

Eliza swept a suspicious eye between Sidney and Miss Heywood whom she noted she had not been introduced to. 

“Yes, well-done children,” she said including Charlotte in the sentiment Sidney wondered. 

Sidney wanting to leave the discomfort of this interaction swept the sand from him. “Right, I shall show you Toms new bathing machines.” 

Eliza smiled as he looked at Charlotte. 

“Good day Miss Heywood,” he said stiffly. Choosing to not introduce them. 

She said nothing. 

“Who did you say that girl was?” Eliza asked. 

Ever direct she was. He turned to look back. 

“Ah, Miss Heywood,” he said as casually as he could. For Miss Heywood, she would remain. 

“She is a guest of my Brother and Mary’s,” he answered looking away in an attempt to distance himself. For very soon, that would be all she was to him again. 

“And she helps with the children?” Eliza asked. 

Sidney frowned at her nosy question. “Well, among other things, yes,” he answered and their eyes met. Communicating the forgone knowledge that something lay there. Unaddressed. 

“She is rather a sweet little thing,” Eliza commented again catching his eye but Sidney’s eyes darkened. Charlotte wasn’t sweet. She was full of heat, and passion. He had seldom seen her sweet to him. 

The few times he had seen it, the effect of it had entirely disarmed him. 

——

Standing on the wet and windy beach Charlotte was confused when Diana and Arthur ran upon the beach in great excitement. She hoped a ribbon for the children would brighten her mood. 

The encounter earlier with Mr. Sidney Parker was not expected and she had thought they understood they would be staying away from each other from that point. Perhaps he just wished to again acquaint the children with the new woman he was with. 

But not introducing her to Mrs. Campion had been a cutting action. It should not have been, she tried to rationalize as she packed the sand down with frustration. 

It was cleaner that way. No introductions were better. 

“I’m sorry, would you mind handing these out. I have to go.” Tom said passing off his list of placements for awards for the sandcastle competition for the ribbons. As with the responsibility. “There’s a list,” he said. “Thank you.” His smile was wide and excited. 

Turning he set to run on the difficult sand. “My Dear!” he yelled. “Come along!” 

The small group of the Parker family followed Tom up the dune in excitement. 

“Her every whim must be indulged,” Tom said. “If we can secure her patronage, we shall be rendered fashionable at a stroke.” 

Charlotte ran at a jog to catch up to Diana. “Who is this Lady Worcester?” 

Diana laughed. “Oh my dear, she is quite notorious. London society positively revolves around her.” They all struggled to keep up as they all traversed the dune at breakneck speed all the while catching up on the gossip. “It is a well-known fact that she and the Prince Regent are-“ she hesitated delicately. 

“Simpatico?” Arthur tactfully offered. 

Diana nodded. “Mmmhm.” 

Upon entering the town Tom nearly was found groveling on his knees. “My Lady,” he said. “A thousand welcomes,” he said rushing to the task. “I beg your forgiveness for missing your arrival,” he said apologetically. “Mr. Thomas Parker, at your service,” he said handing her his card. 

She took it gladly. 

“My wife, oh,” he looked around. “My wife, Mary. We are greatly honored. As you shall see, we have the finest situation on the South Coast. Our Sea Water and our-“

Lady Worcester shook her head. “Oh, shush, never mind all that. If I gave a fig about the sea I’d have gone to Brighton,” she said. “No, no, no. The reason I came here is to finish my conversation with Charlotte.”

Charlotte smiled surprised and stepped forward. 

“Susan,” she said with a smile.

“Very nice to see you, my dear,” she said warmly taking her hand like long-time friends. “Let me introduce you to some people.” 

The entire group of onlookers stood stunned that Charlotte, whom they thought possible the lowest connection among them stood with the highest and on a first name basis. That was intimacy indeed. 

—— 

Charlotte felt the confession burning the back of her tongue. She wanted to tell someone besides Georgiana. 

And Susan felt safe, but Charlotte worried she wasn’t. She had judged people poorly before. More often of late. 

“So the Lady of the town is on her death bed, and the heart sick heiress has taken to her bedroom.” Susan summarized the situation as they strolled around the river. “How thrilling.” 

Charlotte smiled agreeing. It was all thrilling had she, not her own personal drama to manage. 

“But more importantly than any of that, does a certain person know yet that you are in love with him?” she asked. 

“I fear you are mistaken my Lady.” she protested. “I was not… I am not…” 

“Susan.” Lady Worcester corrected her. “And I am never wrong when it comes to the matters of the heart.” 

Charlotte winced. “Even if it were true, he does not love me.” 

The elegant woman smiled. “How are you sure?” 

Charlotte sighed. “I know,” she whispered. “I thought for a moment, perhaps…” she felt a tear almost come but she blinked it back. “He isn’t a bad man.”

Lady Worcester looked over her shoulder. “What is it you are not telling me my dear?” she asked. 

With a bracing breath, she blinked. “When we were trying to save Georgiana, the heiress we had to be alone together in the carriage for so very long… my reputation was already questionable because of an argument we had in the streets weeks ago and the time I happened upon him sea bathing.” she blushed. “It was entirely by accident, I assure you.” she gasped feeling out of breath. 

“What is it, my dear. Surely that is not all?” Susan asked concerned thinking of the girl's impromptu confession in London the night of the ball.

“We were married, at Gretna Green.” she felt the confession fall from her mouth and she covered it horrified. Her eyes were wide. 

Susan blinked and smiled scandalously. “Really? That is immeasurably astounding?” 

Charlotte cringed. “It has not been consummated and it won't be. Indeed we have hardly had more than three moments alone together since.” 

Susan relaxed and smiled. “Why hasn’t he then made an announcement?” she asked. “Why is he escorting the fashionable Mrs. Campion around?” 

Charlotte shook her head. “I suppose the certificate has been burned now.” she winced. “It was just to save my reputation, and it seems it was not any worse for wear since there was enough drama happening in Sanditon at the time that no one hardly took any notice.” 

“Does he seem relieved about that?” The lady asked her. 

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t know how he feels. How would anyone know..,” she mused. “He was once very much in love with Mrs. Campion. I believe he still is. And I should not stand in the way of that.” she whispered. 

“How very magnanimous of you, my dear.” Lady Susan said and continued seriously. “I know all about Mrs. C.” she inhaled sharply. “She must be the wealthiest woman in the country. Not to mention the most elegant. I can see why you’d find her most dispiriting rival.” she commented. “But she will have a chink in her armor.” she smiled. “We just need to find it.” she winked. “He was willing to marry you both once.”

Susan slowed to a stop and turned, leaving, momentarily Charlotte stunned. 

“Mrs. Campion, I have been longing to meet you.” Susan gushed. “I have heard so much about you.” 

Charlotte blushed and wanted to run. 

“Miss Heywood!” came the voice of Mr. Stringer. Who she had been avoiding most of the week but now she found him to be her only clear escape. 

“I wondered whether I might persuade you to take a walk with me. Unless now is not….” he started to give her a chance to reject it.” he was nervous. 

“Oh no, now is the perfect time,” she said breathless and tongue-tied. “I need to make sure everything stands ready at the starting line. Perhaps you could accompany me?” Turning they walked off into the wind which blew about her legs. 

——

Sidney walked with his brothers but noticed across the green Charlotte had rushed off with Mr. Stringer, and he could not deny the beastly emotion that rose inside him that he barely had right to. Not when he escorted another to the event. Not when he intended to burn their marriage certificate. 

“You seem a different man.” his brother Tom said beside him. “And there is no doubting the cause.” 

Sidney did not answer. He did not wish to indulge this fantasy. 

“The lovely Mrs. Campion. Although. I doubt she will remain Mrs. Campion for long if you have your way.” Tom said pushing him. 

Sidney seethed inside. “Steady on, Tom. There is no need to rush things,” he said not wishing to cause a drama in front of his younger brother or the society. 

“And why not?” Tom asked. “She is beautiful, witty, rich, and you have loved her for a decade. Why would there be the slightest doubt in your mind?” 

Sidney sighed. “Though it is a strange feeling. You have wanted something impossible for so long and suddenly it is within your grasp.” he looked not to Eliza but to Charlotte’s back, walking from him with another man. 

Arthur spoke from beside him. “Do you know, for years, all I knew about my brother Sidney was that he was driven to the West Indies with a broken heart.” 

Sidney frowned impatiently. “And what is your point Arthur?” he asked. 

His younger brother stuttered slightly. “I admire your spirit of forgiveness. That is all,” he said. “If it were me, I do not think I could bring myself to trust her again.” 

Sidney thought on that and could not disagree. He knew Eliza was no real agreeable choice beyond the money, and the pretty face…and perhaps the somewhat seemingly romantic history. But when Arthur put it like that, it hardly sounded like a sweeping romance. 

However, with the financial hardships, they could face it was an option he was contemplating.

He could not deny he was thinking on it heavily since Charlotte had told him to burn the square of paper in his pocket the day before. The guilt of those thoughts ate at him. 

He tried to imagine a future with the woman in yellow before him. He just did not see it. 

“Excuse me,” he said walking up the hill to the gathering where Eliza stood waiting to be fully escorted. He wished to excuse himself from them. He needed to think and walk about the river. Perhaps in the direction of Charlotte and Mr. Stringer. 

——

“Looks as though the regatta will be a success, miss.” Mr. Stringer said brightly. “And that is in large part down to you,” he said holding a piece of long grass in his hands. 

She sighed anxiously. “In truth, I have been grateful for the distraction,” she answered. 

He frowned. “Distraction from what?” 

She hesitated. “My own thoughts, I suppose,” she recalled her confession to Lady Susan. She might have ruined herself now. 

“What kind of thoughts?” Mr. Stringer pressed the question. 

“It’s is difficult to say,” she said more tight-lipped now than she had been a full five minutes before. 

Curious and hopeful Mr. Stringer pushed again. “Perhaps you might find me a more sympathetic listener than you might imagine.” he smiled again with hope. “It could be that we share the same thoughts.” 

She sighed. “I doubt it,” she replied. “You are far too sensible to act as I have, and form a misguided and futile attachment,” she said with self-loathing. 

He slowed. “Why should it be futile, Miss Heywood?” he asked. “For all you know, your feelings are repaid five times over,” he said in earnest. 

She frowned not understanding he was talking of himself. 

“I allowed myself to believe so for the briefest of moments. But I cannot deny the evidence of my own eyes,” she said soberly. “No matter.” she tried to laugh. “There is nothing to be done.” 

Mr. Stringer had finally understood that she spoke of another and it brought him to halt his words. 

“You are right Mr. Stringer. You are a sympathetic listener, indeed.” she smiled and walked on leaving Mr. Stringer behind slightly crushed. 

Arriving at the little tent Charlotte pulled off her light blue spencer and went to put out the papers and pencils. Weighing them down with little rocks so that they would not blow away. She was setting up the oars and what not to busy herself. The company up at the party was not for her any more than the ball in London and it just seemed best that she stay away from it as much as she could. 

Turning she saw Mr. Sidney Parker and she winced. “It is a little over an hour for the race Mr. Parker,” she said. He should not be there yet and she hoped to encourage him to go back to the gathering.

Sidney just looked at her as if challenging her to tell him to leave. He was still a little testy from seeing her walk off with another man, but he wasn’t about to admit that. 

“I am letting all the competitors know,” she said feeling foolish. 

Taking off his jacket he nodded wondering if she referenced herself and he and Mr. Stringer as the competitors for her, “Thank you.”

Putting his effects aside he put his hands out. “Well, what do you think Miss Heywood?” he walked over to the boats. “Do I look ready to you?” he asked wondering if they both knew what they were talking about. 

Neither of them spoke in clear words to one another. Both too afraid at this point. 

She stood back, “I am no expert.” 

Looking down at the oars on the ground he sighed. “Neither am I, regrettably.” he leaned down. “I haven’t picked up an oar in years.” 

She shook her head. “I am sure it will all come back to you.”

Sidney looked up having thrown the oars over his shoulders. “I wonder,” he said simply thinking her probably better suited to the younger, warmer man. 

Picking up the other two, Charlotte brought them to him and handed them off without meeting his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he said taking them from her. 

Placing them into the boat he cited, grasping, “A man cannot step into the same river twice. You ever heard that?” he asked not wishing her to leave him and go up the shoreline. 

She turned. “For he is not the same man, and it is not the same river,” she answered and he smiled sentimentally. “It’s Heraclitus.” 

“Yes.” he looked down “Of course you’d know that.” and started thinking about the word ‘suit’. He had heard it much over the last weeks while visiting Sanditon. Would the young Mr. Stringer have known that quote? 

Leaning down he unhooked the boat from shore. “Well, I need another person to balance the boat. Would you mind?” he asked, holding out his hand. 

She hesitated. “I’m not sure if I,-“ she protested and looked out. 

He cocked his head. “Come on.” he encouraged. After all, there was no true impropriety, even if the truth was never to be known. 

With great reluctance, she took his hand and he helped her in. Shortly he very nearly had her in his arms once again. But not for long. 

“Careful,” he said and held her hand. “Sit down behind you.” 

Charlotte gasped as he pushed off and he felt his gut clench at the audible sound of it. 

She looked at him with distrust. With fear. 

“May I ask you something Miss Heywood?” he asked coming to speak quickly. “Why is it, that when I finally have a chance at happiness, can I not accept the fact?”

She looked out, away from him. “What is it you cannot accept?” 

He rowed. “I had convinced myself that I was to remain alone. That I was ill-suited for matrimony.” Even their strange one. He had done wrong by her from the very start, even if he had honorable intentions. 

She looked down serious. “I don’t believe that anybody is truly unsuited to marriage. Not even you.” 

He smiled and laughed as he thought of their last weeks married and how he had failed. 

“I suppose it is just a question of compatibility.” she finished simply. 

He looked sober, and in deep thought. Reminded that she believed them ill-suited but he could only think of their afternoon playing with the children very near, earlier in the season. She never knew how it ranked easily as one of the best afternoons spent in many years. 

How he wished to do such a thing with his own children and he could picture her there beside him like she had that day. Not Eliza. 

“Yes.” he smiled sentimentally. “I suppose you are right.” 

Feeling her searching eyes on him he changed the subject. “Now, it is your turn.” he smiled. “Give me your hands.” he could see the hesitation as he took them in his. 

Wrapping them around the oars his wrapped around hers and he helped her move them into their formation. 

“That's it,” he whispered leaning close as she leaned back.

Looking down the oar he had to avoid her face or he would come undone. “Roll your hands.” His hands moved teasingly down her legs he felt her shape under her fabric as the oar dragged down her body. 

“Good,” he said now looking to her face. Her fear showed and he coaxed her to see. To feel what he felt. 

“That's it,” he said again. 

He felt they suited. 

“Yeah, keep your back straight,” he said reaching to touch her more adventurously. His thumb brushing the fullness of the side of her breast under the guise of instruction. 

She shy’ed from his touch but he just smiled knowing he had taken a liberty only a husband should, and drug his hand down her leg reluctant to break their touch, his hands going back to hers firmly and he laughed. Happy for the first time that day. 

He was just about to-

“Sidney!” Eliza’s voice broke the moment and they both turned surprised. 

He smiled and stood. The instinct to run took over, but being in a boat made that not much of an option and instead went to sit in a more appropriate place, leaving Charlotte handling the oars awkwardly. 

“There,” he muttered, “You’ve gotten the hang of it.” 

Cursing under his breath he sat down at the free bench his back to her with his eyes closed pained. He had done it again. He had left her out to dry. 

Charlotte did not speak one word to him, not even when he tried to offer her his hand to get out of the boat. She would not look at him and he did not blame her. 

He was such a fool. 

Chasing after her was out of the question on account of Eliza coming near with her society friends. 

—— 

Charlotte went to seek refuge and found Susan who insisted on introducing her to more people. 

“You have made the day a success,” she said her arm in hers. “I hardly know how to thank you.” 

“You have no need to thank me,” Susan answered. “I came to enjoy your company.” pointing to some champagne on the table. “Yes please.” 

Charlotte fetched it to her. 

Susan laughed triumphantly. “Look who is coming our way.” her eyes found Mrs. C. “I think we can safely say we found Mrs. Campions Achillies heel.” 

Charlotte breathed fast. “What is it?” 

“You,” Susan answered smugly. 

Charlotte paled and backed up wishing to run. To excuse herself. She could make up an errand quickly perhaps, mayhap not quickly enough. 

“May we join you?” Mrs. Campion asked. 

Lady Susan nodded. 

“What is the topic of discussion?” Mrs. Campion asked. 

Susan smiled. “Miss Heywood and I were just discussing marriage.” 

Charlotte’s heart leaped in her throat. She should have never made her confession

“What is your opinion of marriage, Mr. Parker?” Lady Susan asked quite aggressively. 

Charlotte could tell the question had taken him by just as much of a surprise. 

“I cannot speak of it with any authority, I am afraid.” he artfully eluded answer. 

Mrs. Campion looked to Charlotte. 

“What about you Miss Heywood?” She asked. “You are of marrying age, it must be much on your mind.” she speculated. 

Charlotte blushed to realize that for nearly three weeks it had been constantly on her mind. Since she had been made a wife in all but final deed. 

Sidney stood all ears.

Charlotte swallowed. “There seems little point considering marriage until you’ve found someone you wish to marry.” 

Susan nodded. “Hmm.” 

Sidney was listening to the conversation with his stomach rolling. 

“There must be a boy in your village that's caught your eye?” Eliza probed. 

Sidney looked to her and he felt that irritation rise and he wished to defend Charlotte and stand beside her like he had not before but instead he remained aloof. 

“Why should Charlotte be limited to her village?” Lady Susan asked. 

Eliza sighed. “I always think it helps to share a common background, that is all.” she smiled snobbily. “Miss Heywood is hardly likely to find a kindred spirit in this company,” she explained trying to mark her as an outsider. An outlier. 

Lady Susan shook her head. “And why not?” The great lady asked knowing Charlotte was already married to the man beside them. 

Mrs. Campion looked on tenderly. “I just imagine she must find all our London talk unspeakably tedious.” she smiled brightly and paused. “Wouldn’t you agree Sidney?” she asked. 

Called for his opinion he turned to his wife, his- 

“I have no doubt that Charlotte would rather be sat somewhere, quietly reading Heraclitus.” he smiled intimately to her. For it was what he wished to be doing himself. He was that kindred spirit. Thinking it a tender memory between them. 

And he had used her Christian name for the first time, so publicly without realizing it. 

But they all laughed behind him and around him thinking it a tease. A mere jape. But it was him that was mortified. 

“Sidney, you are wicked.” Eliza laughed thinking he had been in on the joke. “That will certainly not help her find a husband.” she drank triumphantly. 

Charlotte looked stricken. 

“You are quite right Mrs. Campion,” Charlotte said bravely. “I am a farmer’s daughter who reads books.” she glanced at Sidney. “What could I possibly have in common with anyone here?” she asked. “Excuse me.” Her eyes looked at him disappointed as she placed her glass down and exited. 

Sidney could not meet her eyes, but they followed the hem of her skirt as she left. He knew the harm he had unwittingly done and struggled to swallow the lump that formed in the back of his throat. 

Smiling tightly Lady Susan glared now. “Husbands are not often the worthy catch one thinks they are, are they not Mrs. Campion? Men are so often…Disappointing.” she offered a side glance to Mr. Parker who seemed as overcome as Charlotte had been. 

“I often find it best that my friends and connections are well-read. Avid readership is a marvelous help to weed out the frivolous, and shallow-minded.” she smiled at Sidney who still seemed unable to look up from the ground. 

“Perhaps the reading of books does not help in the finding of a husband but it certainly does in the finding of quality friends with intelligent and stimulating connections.” she volleyed and Eliza paled. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Parker?” Lady Susan's smile resembled a cat about to bare its teeth. 

Sidney cleared his throat and faked a sociable smile as he did not look at his guest. “Excuse me.”

Lady Susan smiled with a knowing nod. “Of course Mr. Parker.” as she watched him go around her. 

——

He found her at a merchants booth hiding her tears as he ducked under a banner. Tears he had a hand in bringing forth. 

“Miss Heywood…” he started directly in his approach but she backed away instantly. 

“Would you excuse me?” she rushed and turned from him. “The race is about to start.” 

That would not do. He had to tell her that he did not agree with Mrs. Campion. That he had much in common with her. 

Not caring who saw, or what was heard any-longer. “Wait, wait, wait, I only ask for a moment.” he reached for her in an attempt to stop her. Something a gentleman would never do. He did not care. 

Turning frustrated, and panting with restrained emotion she waited before him.

She was hurt. That much he understood. 

The lump stuck in his throat and he lost his voice. Unable to know just what to say or where to start. 

He had gone through so many thoughts and emotions over the single afternoon in regards to their future and he did not know where to begin, he just could not see her hurt and think ill of him. 

“Well?” she said impatiently.

Shaking his head he looked down. “I hope you weren’t too offended by Mrs. Campion. It was only meant in jest,” he explained weakly. 

She smiled pained. “Is that all I am to you?” she asked. “A source of amusement?” 

His eyes opened wide at the direct nature of her questioning. 

“No of course not, you’re-“ he didn’t know what he was going to say. His mind had completely left him a moment as he observed her anger. 

It reminded him of her accusations in the carriage. She had not been wrong. She had ‘never’ been wrong. He felt a revelation wash over him. “Don’t doubt yourself,” he once told her. 

“Forgive me…” he said seriously. He needed her to forgive him. It had not been what Eliza had said. It had been what he had done. 

She looked down and away a moment. “On the contrary. You’ve done me a great service,” she answered. “I am no longer in any doubt as to how you regard me,” she said coldly and turned from him. 

He felt the words slap him and he could not let them land. No, it could not be farther from the truth. 

“Miss Heywood,” he said softer but again reaching for her to stop her from fleeing again. 

She had fresh tears again in her eyes as she turned again. “What?” She snapped. “What is it you want from me?” 

You, his heart answered, but his mouth could only form a mute spasm. How could he tell her what was only ‘just’ becoming known to him? 

Was the damage too great? 

“Please, be kind enough to leave me alone,” she said slipping from him. 

He watched her leave. Stunned and unable to think a moment, eventually he turned to go back to his guest but found he could not.

Memories of his history with Eliza came back and he recalled several moments she had laughed openly at someone she thought less of in their circle. He recalled times he laughed too with reawakened shame. 

His feet led him down to the boats early where he found her at the desk looking down, her attention on other things. Not to mention, Mr. Crowe and Lord Babington were doing their damndest to prepare while the others were setting their boats to begin. 

It was not the place, any more than earlier had been. Stripping himself again of his effects he did so with frustration. He winced at it. “Please be kind enough to leave me alone…” she had asked him. 

He would respect that. He would trouble her no more, but he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to bring himself to burn the certificate.

Barely listening to his brothers he stole a glance at her while they discussed strategy. 

Sighing heavily when Tom asked him something. “How the hell should I know,” he answered moodily as he walked from them. 

Tom blinked confused by the general demeanor of Sidney as Arthur shrugged and held his pipe. 

Sidney noticed Charlotte had wished Mr. Stringer good luck, but not the parkers or himself, and he simmered in irritation over how it made him feel. 

—— 

Amidst applause and cheers, the award was presented with family and friends on the shoreline. 

“Well done Mr. Stringer.” Sidney said taking the winner's hand.

“Thank you, Sir.” He said. “Though, not the prize I was after.” Mr. Stringer said to him thickly. As if the words suck a little in his throat. 

Sidney met his eyes and regarded him seriously, realizing as their hands shook, the man knew something lay between him and Charlotte. Furthermore that Young Stringer had made a bid earlier and Charlotte must have rejected it. Before the race. 

He tried to smile as the next person stood to shake his hand but all he wanted to do was look at her. Once the line was dispersed Charlotte had gone. 

—— 

Lady Susan stood in front of Charlotte. “Goodbye Charlotte, you must not lose heart. The race is not yet run.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “Thank you, I am more or less resigned to its outcome. The town needs her,” she whispered. 

Lady Susan’s brows rose in protest. “Ah, my dear girl. You are what this town needs.”

Charlotte shook her head. 

she smiled warmly. “And when it comes to love, there is no such thing as a foregone conclusion.” she squeezed her arm and Charlotte smiled sadly.

Charlotte went back to Trafalgar House and quietly went to pack and reflect. 

She did not wish to make a fuss. But knew it would to a degree. It would upset Mary her decision to depart nearly a month early, but she would explain that her family needed her. 

As for the ball there she could save their funds by not taking the dress. 

She wished to stay with the children that night anyway since she was sure to be tired from the regatta. 

“My dear Charlotte,” Mary said knocking and entering quickly. 

Charlotte smiled. 

“Tom is in his bath.” her eyes floated about. “You seem to be packing?” her friend observed. 

Charlotte frowned. “Ah, yes.” she swallowed. “I must return early.” 

Mary blinked confused. “Has something happened?” she asked. “You did not mention catastrophe or word from your family.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “I just miss home,” she said quickly. Tears threatening to fall. “The regatta just reminded me of all that I am missing back there.” She said shakily. 

“My dear, you have not been the same since London. What has happened?” she asked. 

Charlotte shook her head. “Oh, no…Nothing of note besides what awful things happened to Georgiana.” she lied feeling wretched. 

Mary frowned feeling confused. Something was wrong. “Of course we will send you home early, that is if you truly wish it. But my dear, you must stay for the ball. Your dress, it is nearly finished.” Mary protested. 

Charlotte shook her head. “Oh, no. I haven’t had the last fitting. It could fit you, or anyone really at this point. I could not accept any more from you. You have already been ever so generous. Far more generous than I have deserved.” she looked back to her things. “And besides. I think I will be far too tired to dance.” she sighed trying still not to cry. 

Mary looked stunned. “More than you deserve? My dear, you feel like family. I confess to being redured heartbroken at your early departure. I thought I would have weeks more to grow accustomed to it.” Charlotte saw her friend start to cry, but not sob. She was too strong to sob. 

Charlotte nodded. “Mary I love it here.” she stopped, unable to say just how much. Or that she felt suffocated by the thought of leaving. “I just miss home.” 

Mary nodded. “Of course.” she sighed. “I was such a splendid day,” she whispered. “I just, selfishly hope you will change your mind. You are so liked here. Even Sidney thinks well of you.” 

Charlotte’s heart clenched and she turned, picking up a dress and folded it. 

“I will take that, then among the highest of praises,” she answered with veiled bitterness. 

Mary sighed and patted her shoulder. “You might have saved Sanditon today my dear. Don’t think it is lost to me just how much I owe you.” 

With that Mary left before Charlotte could say anything. 

——

Fully dressed again with his vest, Sidney turned and started down the lane. 

After putting on his hat, his hand instinctively went to the marriage certificate he found had slipped partially out. Suddenly noticing Eliza, he approached as he slipped the paper back in deeper into the pocket with a kind smile. 

“You know, you didn’t have to wait for me,” he said. 

“I’ve waited ten years, what's another quarter of an hour,” she answered. 

Sidney listened but was not moved. 

“The truth is, now that I have found you again, I can scarcely bring myself to let you out of my sight,” she admitted bluntly. 

“Eliza, I-“ he started. 

“You know, I never lost hope that we would stand beside each-other once more.” she interrupted him, smiling sweetly. “Here we are. Fate has gifted us a second chance.” 

Sidney sighed and looked at her with a level gaze and thought a moment before answering. 

“Mrs. Campion,” he used it instead of Eliza. “A man cannot step into the same river twice.” his voice was low. 

Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. “Pardon me?” 

He clenched his jaw before answering, “For he is not the same man, and it is not the same river.” his eyes drifted out to the body of water that ran by them. 

Eliza shook her head confused. “I don’t understand.” 

He nodded and smiled as tenderly as he could afford her. “No, you wouldn’t.” he sighed meaningfully. “It’s Heraclitus.” 

Seeing Eliza make the connection he looked in the direction of the town. 

“Shall we?” he said gesturing his cane forward but not offering her his arm. 

Blinking, emotion showed in her wide blue eyes and she nodded. Pasting on a diplomatic smile she fell in stride. 

——

Entering Trafalgar House he found Mary at the fire by Tom's office table. 

“Oh Sidney, we believed you off to London with Mrs. Campion,” she said looking up from her sewing. “Tom is still in the bath. I suppose he should come out soon,” she said softly. 

Sidney nodded. “That is fine Mary, I was just going to go through the receipts from the regatta,” he said going to sit down. 

Mary nodded. “I suppose it all should be there. Charlotte may have more to leave once she is finished with things tonight.” she sighed. “I do not know how Tom will manage without her. She means to leave early.” 

Sidney looked up as he sat. “What was that, Mary?” he asked concerned. 

She wiped at a tear. “I am just so sure we have done something to upset the poor girl,” she whispered. 

His eyes swept down ashamed, shoulders sagged. “I am sure that is not so. Perhaps I can talk to her.”

Mary brightened. “Oh would you?” she asked. “I told her how well you thought of her, but I fear she does not believe it. I know you can be quite rough Sidney, but I can tell you have a soft spot for her just as the rest of us do.” she looked down hopeful. “At least convince her to come to the ball. If she really wishes to go home, we wont stand in the way of that.”

He nodded. “Of course. I will do what I can,” he promised. 

Upon opening the file he found it had been neatly organized, unlike the last time he had searched his brother's things for an order receipt.

Flipping through it he was easily able to see the figures that had gone into the elaborate schemes his brother had contrived over the last year to drum up interest. Too much money had been spent. Far more than he ever imagined could be recovered. 

He turned it over to the insurance folder and found it thinner than all the rest. There were receipts for some shipments and required insurance for that, but like Charlotte warned him there was nothing for anything to do with the building or the mass of funds invested. 

He looked up. “Uh, Mary…” he said seriously. 

She looked up. “Yes, Sidney?” 

“I am going to need to see Tom.” he laced his fingers. Restraining the anger that threatened to overcome him. “He will need to come out of the bath.”

Mary frowned nervously and nodded. “Just a moment.” 

It did not take him long to understand just how badly his elder brother had found himself. But the depth was certainly not something Sidney thought even possible. Not unless you were nobility or royalty. 

Charlotte had been entirely right in what she thought, and he had reprimanded her for it. Again. 

His brother popped in brightly. “Yes, Sidney?” he asked. “Come to share a drink!” he said. “Salute the success of my grand regatta.” he hunched over. 

Sidney stood and went to the fireplace and poured himself a shallow drink. He wanted some sobriety this night, but just a taste to take the edge off what he was feeling. 

“You mean Charlotte’s regatta,” he turned back around and faced Tom with squinting eyes. “Her connections made it a grand regatta, her idea conceived the event. ” he whispered and saluted her. “To charlotte.”

Tom frowned, confused. “Well it was a collective pursuit and I was just saying so myself to Mary that so much was owed to Charlotte.”

Sidney pinched the bridge of his nose impatiently. “Tom, I need to you please show me that there is… somewhere here you have proof of insurance,” he said as his hand shook. 

Tom froze and turned as he hesitated in his answer. 

Sidney turned angry but did not speak. 

“It was a very high premium, and I was already not able to pay my workers.” Tom defended. 

Sidney’s anger was bubbling over. “Tom! This is bigger than just you or your family.” he sighed and clutched at his head since it throbbed. “This is the ruination of the likes I have never even conceived should so much as a spark goes in the wrong place. And correct me if I am wrong, but those paints and varnishes are highly flammable,” he shouted. 

Tom looked like a deer stunned. “Hush brother, half the house is asleep.” he cautioned. 

Sidney shook his head. “You are not fit to run this project anymore, Tom,” Sidney said with regret. “I am sorry brother. It pains me greatly to say, but you have the potential to not only ruin lives but the lively-hood and promised future of this town,” he warned him. 

Tom gulped. “What will you do Sidney?” 

Sidney looked to him. “You will stop construction.” he ordered. 

Tom shook his head. “That will be disastrous. It is almost complete.” 

Sidney nodded. “So would a rushed finish and one laborer with a pipe. I need to procure some more backing, and then we can insure the building.” He said stressed. 

“Can you do that? It would take ten or more.” Tom said with a shaking voice. 

Sidney shook his head. “I don’t know. But it is too much of a risk Tom. How could you have done this?” 

Tom shook his head. “It never felt so bad when I sat here, surrounded by all this.” he looked at his fine study. 

Sidney sighed and nodded, understanding how he had gotten so deep but not realizing it.

“The way you are going it is debtors prison and the workhouse for the children and Mary. And myself… I won't be doing well either. I heavily invested to bail you out already.” Sidney tried to be gentle. 

Tom shook his head. “This will all be fine soon. You will announce your engagement to Eliza, and we will be right as rain.” 

Sidney shook his head. “No. I parted with Eliza for the last time tonight. I will not use her to bail you out of this. We will have to manage without an advantageous match.” he sighed. “Luckily as it stands the building is intact. We have time to find funds for insurance and we can hirer watchmen for things like fire, and other damages,” he said. 

Tom frowned. “It was going to be able to have guests stay in a matter of weeks.” 

Sidney shrugged. “I should count myself very lucky to manage to get backing for the insurance in a timely manner. It will take weeks. Really, Tom, you should have had this in place months ago.” 

Tom looked like a kicked dog. “Why do you insist on going at it the harder way, brother, you have loved her for ten years,” Tom said desperately. “Is it not providence?”

Sidney shook his head. “No, Tom, it is a damn nuisance since I-“ he hesitated. “No Tom… Go tell Mary or by god I will tell her myself.” 

——

Alone with his thoughts he pulled out the certificate and brooded. He would set Charlotte straight tonight on his regard of her and then she can take it from there. He in no way deserved her. Not after the many ways he had mistreated her, and openly forgot he was a gentleman and she, a gentleman’s daughter in his actions.

But she inspired him to do better, to see things clearer.

Be more present to his family, more tender to those he loved. She made him want to be better. 

He waited a long while before he heard Charlotte come into the room. He was in the adjoining parlor having already gone through enough of the paperwork to understand how precarious the financial situation was. 

Walking in he faced her with his arms behind his back. He could see on her face she was not expecting him. 

“If you are looking for your brother-“ she started. 

He shook his head. “I am not.” he looked around and then down. “As a matter of fact, I was looking for you.” 

She looked guarded. “I thought you and Mrs. Campion would have been heading off to London.” she said. 

He looked down and nodded. “She has already left. I never planned on joining her. It was my brother Tom who obliged me back in London to escort her at the regatta today.” he explained. “But I confess to my own perverse curiosity in the old spark but it had been only a trick of the light.” he said seriously. “On reflection… I would rather be here.” 

She looked at him with confusion and he wondered if he was still not clear enough. 

“I, uh… I am a great deal less than perfect. You’ve made me all too aware of that.” he said softly. “But for whatever it is worth, I believe I am my best self, my truest self, when I am with you.” he confessed as clearly as he could manage. If she did not understand then he did not know what he would do. 

She looked at him with such an intense look he found himself loosing nerve. He did not know if he could manage rejection now. Not when he had opened himself so bear. 

“That is all.” inclining his head he turned and left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is 10k words too. So I had to break it into another chapter. Making it 4 chapters long. 
> 
> Still just a little more to wrap up, plus all austen stories end with a wedding do they not? So we still must end with Babington and Esthers wedding. 
> 
> just one more time come. 
> 
> I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS.

Chapter 3 

I am my best self, my truest self when I am with you.

Charlotte’s wide eyes fell to the trunk beside her and she nibbled her lip worried. 

What was he saying?

No longer able to trust her own judgment she sighed and went to the window and watched for the rising sun as she leaned frustrated and torn emotionally on the sill. Her head pressed up against the pane, she blew out air and it fogged the glass. 

He never planned to leave for London.

That had just been the breakfast conversation and the dear financial hopes of Mr. Tom. 

She winced, thinking of the precarious situation of the Parker family she had become surrounded by. 

It had been a very late hour when she had taken the file to Mr. Parker's desk. She had almost decided to take it in the morning but instead went down with it so that she did not hold up Tom in the morning with important business. 

They were the last of the inquiries collected at the regatta that day and would be needed first thing in the morning. She knew Tom was anxious to get those sent off to London and on contract as soon as possible. 

Once she laid the file down she felt unburdened. She would be leaving soon and she hoped would trouble her no longer. 

She had meant to only linger over the model rendering one last time before she finished packing but then footsteps had made her turn. 

Charlotte had hoped to never speak to him again. She could not have been more clear in her how final she felt in that stance. 

But then he had confused her all the more by confessing to seeking her out that night. After having gone back to her bed she had tried to pack but instead, she had given up the task in confounded confusion. 

Now hours later the house was coming alive, and she realized she had not slept a wink. Slipping on a fresh dress she went to her mirror and frowned.

Coming down the stairs she was surprised by the altered mood of the family. 

Mary was icy to Tom, and he sat turned from her and looked out the window as if lost in his mind. 

“Morning my dear,” Mary greeted her. “Did Sidney have a chance to talk to you about the ball tonight?” she asked. 

Charlotte shook her head and sighed. “No, but it was as I thought. I am far too tired from the excitement of yesterday.” she winced. 

Mary frowned. “Pity, he said he would.” she lamented. “perhaps he will speak to you today. Why not draw the curtains closed and sleep in. I will be lost without you.” 

Charlotte shrugged. “There will be so much noise.” she shook her head. “What with the work.” 

Mary shook her head and looked to her husband. “Not from the apartments. The work has been halted. I am sure you have not heard the latest news.” 

Charlotte looked to Tom, who sat blushing as he fumbled the cup. “Mary.” He tried to censure.

“Oh, yes, Tom,” Mary smiled coldly. “Tom neglected to acquire the necessary insurance. Sidney has felt it prudent and cautious to halt the progression until everything is in order.” 

Tom scoffed. “He has become so very cautious. My brother used to gamble on a lark.” he scoffed. “Everything would have been fine, like an easy sea breeze. Just a few more weeks and it would have turned out alright in the end.” he ran his hand through his hair frustrated. “Why today I should be going through those inquires on my dest Charlotte put there last night.”

Charlotte winced and put her head down knowing she was the reason that bit of information had been brought to light. 

“Anything could have happened Tom. This is why you were really so troubled about Lady Denham's possible death. Whoever inherited would have surely asked for proof of the insurance as she had trusted you. The recipient of her will would have not” Mary snapped. “I am so troubled by this. it is quite upsetting.” she huffed and then blushed to remember Charlotte was actually a guest and not a member of the family. “Apologies Charlotte. Come have a some breakfast and I shall try not to act a shrew.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “Thank you, but I am not hungry.” she looked to the door. “I fancy a walk along the beach.” 

Mary winced. “I suppose you intend it being one of your last.” she sighed. “Oh, my dear. I do so wish you would change your mind, but considering, I could well understand.” she looked to her partner with a glare. 

Charlotte shook her head. “I just, I am sorry Mary, Tom…” she struggled. “I am sure you will be right back on track very soon.” 

Tom sighed. “My dear Charlotte, to do what Sidney demands requires a large sum of money. Money we collectively do not have. And he is entirely unwilling to do the one thing that will save the entire venture and then some in one fell swoop.” Tom said with judgment. 

Charlotte paled. 

Mary shook her head. “You cannot expect Sidney to solve your folly, Tom,” she said irritably. 

He shook his head. “And why not Mary?” he asked. “I did the same for him. I paid off his enormous debts,” he said. 

Mary shook her head. “No you did not Tom, the debt is not the same. Marriage is his life.” 

Tom shook his head. “Ten years he loved her.” he protested. 

Scoffing, Mary glanced at Charlotte who still stood rooted and uncomfortable. 

“Tom, you are a fool. He did not love her for ten years. He resented her, for ruining his trust in women. It is because of Mrs. Campion that he never allowed himself to trust another. To love another.” she shook her head. “And you wish him to shackle himself to her for your precious Sanditon. Oh, how I have come to loath this place and the selfish man it has turned you into,” she said. “Oh I do hope Sidney taking over the business of the town brings back the man I married, because I don’t recognize you any longer.” 

Tom frowned and looked hurt. “Mary,” 

Charlotte blushed and moved from the room before she overheard another shocking word. 

Out on the beach she walked against the wind as she tried still to untie and unlock the meaning behind Mr. Sidney’s words. Somehow the more she wandered and mulled them over they steadily brought a flutter to her stomach and a nervous smile to her face, and she feared it silly. 

Was she misinterpreting it all wrong again? And besides, it was all so complicated. 

She should never have said a word about the insurance. Irresponsible or not, it was not her business to be involved so much. 

And she was sure they were no longer married anymore. Or at least the proof of it was gone. 

——

Sidney grimaced. “I will make a deal with you Georgiana,” he said. “You liked your outing at the regatta, I gather?” he asked. 

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "It beats a sermon," she sat up. 

He nodded. “I will take you back to London with me when I return. Though it may not be where I hold residence permanently. I will still have business in the city, and there are a few schools that I thought you might prefer.” 

She frowned. “You are sending me away?” Her eyes narrowed. 

He looked at her surprised. “No.” he sighed and measured his words carefully.  
“Georgiana, I thought you would like it better than this, and if you disliked it we could try something new until you were satisfied.” he offered. “I am willing to try other options. New chaperones even.” he swallowed. “Whatever you wish, so long as it within a days carriage ride from London.” 

She frowned disbelieving. 

“What is the catch?” she asked. 

He sighed. “I wish you to convince Charlotte to come to the ball tonight.” 

Georgiana shook her head. “She doesn’t want to go to the ball?” she asked doubtful. “But Charlotte loves to dance.” 

Sidney smiled not realizing he had not known that fact. 

“You see, I might have-“ he hesitated and looked uncomfortable. “She should be there, but has made up her mind to not go. Probably because of me.” he put up his hands. 

His ward squinted suspiciously at him “You did not return to London with Mrs. Campion.” Georgiana just realized. 

He blinked and looked down seriously as his jaw tensed under her scrutiny. His eyes ventured back up to hers a moment later. 

“You’re in love with Charlotte!” she said in an outburst. 

Sidney sighed and stood. “Georgiana,” looking down, his face softened in thought of her. “I am far from worthy of her affections, but if I were to have them she would have mine.” he cleared his throat uncomfortable.

“Will you convince her?” he asked again. 

She covered her mouth surprised, but then smiled. 

“Of course I can,” she said coyly. “but just so we are clear. I get to have an opinion? I get to fire the governess?” 

He squinted and hesitated. “You can speak to me in private and tell me your preference, and then I can tactfully deal with the employment. We don’t need you gaining a reputation among the educators of London as a tyrannical student.” 

She nodded. “I want to study art,” Georgiana said firmly. “Of the type that would shock most sensibilities. I want a tutor.”

He nodded. “Anything else?” he asked. 

Looking around. “Yes, I don’t want to learn how to do all this frippery and the sermons I must endure here…” she groaned. “I want to learn about architecture and science.” she brightened. 

He blinked and sighed. . “Well your father gave me a generous budget for your upbringing, if you don’t mind some changes in your expenditures on clothes, then I am sure I can accommodate it, if you will make it worth the expense.” 

She blinked. “Fine, I will have Charlotte at the ball tonight.” 

Sidney nodded. “Our conditions stand regardless.” 

His ward blinked surprised and smiled. “I should hope so,” she said smugly as she watched him go to the door. 

“Was this you attempting to make amends?” she asked as he was almost out the door. 

He smirked and opened the door a fraction. “Does it?”

“No,” she said smugly. “but you can keep trying.” 

——

“I won’t go, unless you go Charlotte, and that is final,” Georgiana demanded with practiced defiance. 

Charlotte frowned and swallowed nervously. “It’s just I didn’t get any sleep last night.” she anxiously breathed while sitting on Georgiana's bed that morning. 

“So, go back to the Parkers and sleep the day away. The ball is tonight. Hours away.” she got up and went to her jewelry box. “You can even wear one of my best pairs of earrings.” she fished out a few choices. 

Charlotte looked nervous. “The Parkers have already spent enough on me.” her excuse sounding more pathetic the more times she thought it. 

Georgiana frowned. “Which you paid back entirely yesterday. That is what I heard.” she shook her head. “There would have been hardly anyone at the regatta had it not been for you.” 

Charlotte chewed her lip. “It does not make up for other naughty things I have done.” she winced. 

Georgiana rolled her eyes as she sat back down. “I doubt it. It is Sidney who has a lot to make up for.” 

“You judge Sidney too harshly.” Charlotte found her voice defending him. “Consider the kindness he showed Otis.” Charlotte found herself lost in the thought of him. “I feel he has a tenderness that few people get to see.” 

Georgiana frowned as she put an earring to her lobe. “And what has he done to make you think so?” 

Charlotte smiled. “It is both what he has done, and what he has said.” she sighed. “We spoke after the regatta, and then…” 

“And?” Georgiana asked. 

Charlotte blushed. “He said he felt his truest self when he was with me.” 

“Oh,” Georgiana said and scoffed. “Nothing else.” 

Charlotte shook his head. “No, he left saying, ‘That is all’,” 

Georgiana chuckled and put up another pair of earrings. “He is no poet, that much is apparent. For all his reading.” 

Charlotte rolled her eyes embarrassed. 

“You will come.” Georgiana ventured in a moderately commanding voice. 

Charlotte groaned. “Ugh, I would still have a fitting.” 

Her friend laughed. “You should have slept last night.” 

Shaking her head Charlotte pushed at her. “You already know why I could not sleep. He just left me with that to mull on all night long. That is all.” 

Georgiana burst out in giggles. “The fiend.” 

——

Charlotte left and found herself blinking confused and she sighed shakily as she went back to Trafalgar House. 

No sooner had she returned and stuffed a muffin from the kitchen’s into her mouth and drank a tepid cup of tea.

The children ran happily through the house but Tom was in a mood and Charlotte was trying to avoid the general bad tone that she had encountered earlier that morning. 

“I must take these little rascals to the schoolroom.” she looked to the children wishing to run amok through the house. “How was your outing?” Mary asked in passing as she tried to fetch the children out of the hall. 

Charlotte tucked her hair back. “Windy.” she smiled. 

Mary blinked and tried to smile. “I could have your lunch sent up if you wish to rest.” 

Charlotte gasped slightly as a body came into view. 

“Miss Heywood, I am glad I have caught you.” Sidney smiled and looked at Mary meaningfully. 

Mary smiled and blushed as she took one glance at Charlotte. 

“I was headed into town, and I heard you had a dress fitting. I wished to offer you accompaniment to the appointment, and I was wondering if you wished to join me for a walk after,” he said wincing at the audience. 

Charlotte blinked and found her heart race and her stomach flop. “Oh, I…Uh.” she blushed and looked to Mary. “I suppose so. Thank you.” 

Mary beamed and patted her daughter's hair. “That’s it, Sidney, I knew you could bring her around.” 

Charlotte blushed and stepped down. 

Sidney smiled lightly. 

“Shall we?” he said gesturing with his arm. 

She eyed him nervously as she stepped forward. 

“Go on then,” Mary said from behind. Her eyes smiling as if she had noticed something. “Off you go, you two.” 

Sidney spared her a glance and then looked back to Charlotte. 

“You seem very serious this morning, Miss Heywood.” He commented as they strolled to the drapers. 

She nodded. “I suppose I am. Tom and Mary seem to be on the outs and I feel responsible,” she confessed. 

Sidney looked down as he leaned on his cane as he walked. “Ah, yes. I might have pre-emptively demanded radical spousal honesty from him to her.” he chuckled. “I can see how it might have been wiser to wait but with the halting of the work until insurance is acquired I felt it necessary.” 

Charlotte looked at him surprised. 

“I know little of the proper inner workings of a marriage.” he smiled shyly. 

She bit her lip. “Tom says it will cost a lot. The insurance,” she said. 

He smiled. “Not the fortune it would cost to rebuild a smoldering ruin caught by an errant flame. Or the debts and loss of reputation if our investors pull out after hearing we have no assurances of protection.” 

He nodded with a shuddered breath that rattled inside of him. “I vouched for him to half of London. I would not be able to do business with the whole of London or all of the country if this were known.” stopped in front of the drapers. “Truth is, I actually owe you a debt of gratitude for telling me,” he said hesitantly. 

She shook her head. “No, it was impolite-“

He nodded. “Yes, perhaps, but the right thing is sometimes not polite.” looking to the building he looked up. “Ah. I must drop off some letters of the delays here to go to London, but I will be back here shortly,” he said. “For our walk.” 

She blinked and looked at him seriously and nodded. “Alright.” 

Sidney went to his place at the Crown. It was the best place to send the post. From there he could easily view how quiet the apartments were now that the crew had come to clean everything up. 

There on the stoop, he lit up a smoke. 

“I thought you were to return to London.” Mr. Crowe joined him looking hungover. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, I will be returning in a few days. But I have some personal business to manage here.” 

Crowe rolled his eyes. “Oh no,” his hand went to his face and rubbed it. “not you too?” he pulled out his flash to chase his handover. “It’s not the Heywood girl, is it?”

Sidney smiled. “Is it that obvious?” 

Crowe nodded. “It was painfully obvious your display at the booths yesterday at the regatta. But you are a lucky man. She is the only woman in this town that turned my head besides that Miss Brereton.” he looked up and down the street lazily. “Which I have seen little of, so I am off this afternoon on the next coach.” 

Sidney nodded and smiled. “Ah,”

“I would wish you good luck,” he said offering his hand. “But I suppose you need more than that?”

Sidney looked to his friend's open hand and what glinted in the palm and frowned before he shook it.

“We were the first team out of the race and back at the tent.” he smiled. “I found a certain paper, just hanging out, about to be blown by a stiff breeze. Mighty irresponsible of you. But don’t you worry, I tucked it back in. But not before seeing what it was.” 

Sidney looked down at the two gold bands in the man's hand. 

“I know you did not ask me to be the best man, but someone should have been.” he chided. “And it seems you are missing rings. Shame on you man.” 

Sidney smiled and took them from him. His eyes looking up and down the street covertly. 

“Who have you told?” he asked. 

Crowe smiled. “No one. You know me, I forget my name half the time.” 

Sidney nodded with a laugh.. “Stay for the ball.” 

His friend shook his head. “No, all this romance is depressing.” he rolled his eyes. “Especially when I am not getting even a slice of it.” 

Sidney clapped him on the back. “It seems at the heart of it there is a Romantic after-all. Thank you.” he smiled. “I, best be on my way.”

Crowe nodded. “Yes. I will see you in a few weeks I am sure. Give my warm regards to the new Mrs. Parker.” 

Sidney stopped and looked at his friend and blushed. “Hush Crowe, don’t you have a coach to catch.” 

Crowe laughed. 

“I believe you have more ‘pressing’ matters Mr. Sidney Parker.” Crowe spun his cane and drunkenly fumbled it. 

——

Sidney paced outside of the draper's shop long enough to smoke two more times. His heart hammering with impatience, cursing the small windows, and the inability to see inside. But once his back was turned and he was reading a paper pasted to the building her voice pierced his frantic attempts at occupying himself. 

“I am quite finished Mr. Parker,” she said holding a box. 

Frowning he shook his head. “Oh no, we will have that sent to Trafalgar House, we will not tarry the trip back and suffer Toms's bad mood.” 

He went inside. “Here, allow me.” 

Moments later he had accomplished the small task and they were off down the lane. 

Both seemed lost in thought as they headed out of town and up the cliffs. The silence stretched and Sidney drifted closer to her body, craving proximity. As they climbed more difficult terrain. He made excuses to offer her his hand more and more often. Relishing in the frequent chances to touch her.

Noting the cove they overlooked he smiled. 

“Fine fresh day.” he ventured conversation nervously. Up till then, they had been relatively silent, besides the occasional ‘excuse me’, and ‘thank you’. 

“Yes, indeed,” she replied. 

He angled his body to her. “It bodes well for the ball tonight,” he said brightly. 

“Yes,” she said not sure what to say.

He felt foolish. Small talk was not how he and Charlotte conversed. He feared they were both too afraid to speak now. He had made her afraid and there he was, too tongue-tied to even speak. 

“Where being an indoor occasion, good weather is not so much of a consideration.” he rambled. 

Charlotte smiled and chuckled. “No, quite.” 

Sidney was trying to listen to himself and it did not sound right. “But welcome, none the less.” wincing he realized it sounded entirely daft. 

“Are you looking forward to the ball?” he asked recalling seconds too late she had not been, but not knowing what to say.

She looked at him confused. “I was, before. Now, I am not sure.” she sighed and tried to smile as she looked out on the bluff ahead. “I love to dance.”

She turned to him now. “Are you looking forward to the ball?” 

He nodded. “Yes, yes, very much, very much.” struggling again to do small talk he tried to think. “And your family… have you heard from them recently?” 

She nodded. “Yes, a letter from my sister came just this morning.” 

He smiled. “Ah, well. We both know nothing happens in Willingden,” he said in a bid to remind her that Sanditon was more exciting. 

“Mr. Parker,” she turned. 

He smiled. “Sidney.” 

She tried to nod. “Sidney, what is it?” she gestured. 

He frowned. “Forgive me. Should we-“ he shook his head, his shoulders dropping in defeat. His mouth moved into a tight line as he moved closer.

“I find I cannot speak the right words.” he sighed and swallowed with nerves. “At the ball tonight,” he swallowed hard, and cocked his head in closer. “I was hoping that we might find a moment where we could be alone together.” he tried to get to the point. 

She blinked as the wind blew her hair teasingly about her face. 

“Were you?” her lips asked. 

“Yes,” he sighed having come closer to her, sensing the unspoken invitation. “I woke up this morning, my head full of the conversation we had last night.” 

She looked up at him, open to him. He was so close.

“So did I.” she whispered. 

With that confession, he stepped closer. “Charlotte.” 

“Yes?” she asked her eyes wide but it was his heart that beat as if this was his first kiss. 

Leaning down he took her mouth in his and found it soft and pliant to his. Generous and giving. Feeling something press against his chest, his heart soared as he realized her fingers grasped the lapels of his long coat as her lips eagerly met his. 

Pulling her tightly to him, in far more advanced than a normal first kiss he hungered for more. The urgency of it was intoxicating and far more evolved than he intended, but he could not resist deepening it as her lips opened under his and their tongues found the others. 

Dizzy, he pulled his mouth reluctantly from her and pressed his head against her forehead. 

“Come, you must rest before the ball,” he said with restraint. “I have taken far too many liberties when it comes to you already. Exhaustion should not be one of them.” He whispered against her forehead as he still held her. 

——

Before arriving at the ball Sidney walked through the empty pavilion satisfied that the lower levels were hammered up satisfactorily. He could not help a nagging feeling that anything could have and could still go wrong as he shut the door behind him. 

“Unfortunate to see it boarded up after being all open yesterday.” Young Mr. Stringer said behind him in his usual clothes.

Sidney nodded. “Mr. Stringer, I thought you would be getting ready for the ball tonight.” 

The man nodded. “I would be, but my father is feeling poorly. The news of the work shutting down hit him hard. I can't help but feel this job will be the end of him if it doesn’t end well.” he looked up to the building. 

Sidney nodded. “I am working very hard to ensure it is a success.” 

“Then why halt building just days, perhaps only a week before it is finished?” Mr. Stringer asked.

Sidney nodded and stepped closer. His eyes met his rivals level. “Can you keep this between us?” He said. “It will affect my personal ability to do business in the future, and that is not something I want, nor Sanditon would want.” 

Mr. Stringer nodded. 

“My brother never insured it,” he said quietly. “I just found out.”

Mr. Stringer blinked and then a moment later nodded. “I understand. Is he handling the business anymore?” he asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “I am going to make it clear that no business of Sanditon should go through him. If it happens it is done through me.” 

Mr. Stringer nodded. “I respect that.” he seemed a little cold. Sidney attributed that to the jealousy about Charlotte.

Sidney nodded and pinched the tip of his hat. As he moved to walk Mr. Stringer cleared his throat. “And what of Miss Heywood?” 

Sidney turned and stepped closer frowning. “I respect you, Mr. Stringer,” he confessed. “But I cannot speak on that subject.” 

“If you don’t care for her, or she is just a trifle let her go.” He said valiantly. 

Sidney nodded. “Understood.” he nodded and turned. “I hope your father improves. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance,” he said sincerely. 

With that parting comment he touched his hat and nodded as he turned. 

——

Entering the ballroom early he anxiously hoped Charlotte would have already been there. Seemed his friend Lord Babington had the same idea for they had both arrived at nearly the same time. 

Their eyes scanning the place expectantly. 

Fetching a drink Sidney smiled. 

“I don’t know what it is, but I have found myself quite captivated.” Lord Babington said as they crossed the dance floor as candles were being lit at the last moment. 

“Is it the place, or a certain Esther Denham?” Sidney asked. 

Babington looked about and smiled. “She is wild and passionate.” 

Sidney looked down in thought. “So you want to tame her, do you?” he asked cheerfully. 

His friend turned. “I believe she has tamed me.” 

Sidney was speechless a moment in reflective thought. “Yes, I can imagine just how that might feel.” he said observing the last preparations being made. 

——

Charlotte entered the ball on Mary’s arm. Tom had come directly behind them, standing sullenly. 

Her eyes found his instantly as he came directly to her and he bowed. “Charlotte,” his voice a mere whisper. “Wait for me one moment,” he said and stepped to Tom. 

“Tom, this is your event, you must announce it,” Sidney said.

Nodding Tom stepped down and smiled unsure, and then pasted on his showman smile as the song came to a close and there was applause. 

“My lords, ladies and gentlemen,” he paused with effect. “It is our very great pleasure to welcome you to the midsummer ball.” 

The round of applause sounded as Sidney’s and Charlotte’s eyes met beside one another. 

“No further introductions are necessary, so on with the dance and let the joy be unconfined,” Tom concluded hastily noticing someone in the crowd. 

Sidney leaned down “May I-“ 

“Sidney!” Came Tom’s voice behind him. 

Turning Sidney blinked. “Yes, Tom?” 

His brother bade him to come. “It is the Lord Pedmilson, come for an introduction.” 

Sidney sighed. “Excuse me,” he winced. 

Charlotte accepted an offer from another. As she danced around she noted his burning and hungry eyes seemed to follow her around the dance floor. 

Her stomach flipped as she tried to follow the steps and get into the merriment of it all, but with everything so uncertain she did not know.

Just last night she was so sure she was leaving for home that she had intended to write that very day to warn them. But she had never gotten around to it. 

—— 

Watching her dance a second round with the same man Sidney seethed. Not because of jealousy but because Tom was trying to still manage his time. Sidney knew better how to move among society, and this was not how it was done. 

The wealthy sensed desperation and the men simply oozed it. 

“That is enough Tom,” Sidney mumbled close to his brother's ear. “We do not need to conduct business this aggressively any longer. Lady Worcester assured that.” he clapped him on the back. 

Tom blinked. “But the-“ 

“Excuse me, Tom,” Sidney said knowing the song was about to come to a close. 

Tom frowned. “Where do you rush off to in such a hurry.” 

“I was going to ask Charlotte to dance.” Sidney turned only his head.

Tom glanced at her. “Oh, she has a partner and will soon have another. She is well occupied.” 

Sidney turned. “Yes, she will be.” He smiled simply and walked from him with a stern face implying that he was not to be moved from his intended quarry. 

Standing next to his friend Lord Babington he took an offered drink. “Any luck with Miss Denham?” he said under his breath. 

Lord Babington smiled. “We shall see.” he smiled. “She only just arrived, looking in fine form I must say.” 

Sidney’s eyes followed Charlotte still. 

“What are you waiting for?” his friend said next to him. 

Sidney turned, unsure of his friend's meaning. 

“You have not taken your eyes off of her all night.” Lord Babington’s eyes gazed across the room to his Charlotte and Sidney sighed thoughtfully. “I hope you receive a favorable answer, old friend.” 

Sidney swallowed and smiled to himself and looked at him almost bashfully and then back to her. 

Putting his glass down Lord Babington suddenly felt brave again. “Indeed, I hope we both do.” Clapping Sidney on the back. 

Moments later her eyes caught his and her nervous face broke into a tentative smile and he smiled back and turned from the dance floor to escape it all. He felt she would follow.

Somehow a dance felt wrong. There was too much left to say and he had neglected it long enough. 

He hoped she would come and find him. Knowing he had wanted them to have a moment where they could be alone together. 

Rising the stair he found himself on the familiar balcony. His hands looked down at the railing he gripped and he blinked nostalgically. If only he had known then how that sharp-tongued brave girl would consume his thoughts from that moment on he might never have come back to this town. He would have been terrified of it. But now he was just filled with longing and hope. But also there was that other feeling. Terror. 

Smiling he watched as the dance ended and he watched her look for him. Smiling to himself he wondered if he could dare to hope, to dream that he would receive what he did not deserve. 

Sensing her, he turned. 

“At last,” he said and reached for her. “I thought I would never get you alone.” 

His hands stroked hers as he felt her gloved smooth satin, wishing it was her bare hands as it had been on the boat. 

“Do you remember our last conversation on this balcony?” 

She blinked up at him. “All too well…” she exhaled with a smile. 

He chuckled. “What a brute I was.” 

She inhaled sharply. “I deserved everything you said.” 

He sighed and his head shook. “No you didn’t.” emotion choked him. “I hope that I am a different man now.” 

She shook her head. “No, you’re the same man…” her eyes misted. “but much improved.” 

He felt his heart leap. “If I have changed at all, it is in no small part down to you.” he shook his head. “I have never wanted to put myself in someone’s power before.” His shoulders dropped with a sigh. “I’ve never wanted to care for anyone but myself.” 

Looking to his jacket he reached in without breaking eye contact. “Miss Heywood, or Mrs. Parker… Charlotte…” he sighed. “I am afraid I cannot decide alone what to do with this.” 

His throat was tight as she looked at the paper in his hand. 

“You didn’t burn it?” she asked. 

He shook his head and swallowed. “I couldn’t.” Looking down he tried to breathe as his head felt dizzy. His heart laid open. “If you wish it over, you must destroy it, for I cannot.” he looked up. 

Blinking at the certificate Charlotte felt her stomach flip. 

“We are still married,” she whispered. 

He nodded. “I am entirely in your power. You should be able to choose me,” he whispered. “If you want this over if can be.” he swallowed, “But know first I-“ he felt his heart leap into his throat. “I “ 

“Get out of my way!” came an angry voice. “Unhand me, you blackguards.” Sir Edward Denham shouted crudely. 

Sidney looked to Charlotte and finished handing her the certificate and left her side quickly. 

“Esther,” he said. “I have been such a fool, Esther.” he approached quickly. “That little vixen took advantage of me. I must have been mad.” 

Coming aggressively to her she had to bend back from his proximity. 

“Tell me that you love me, as I still love you,” he demanded desperately. 

The crowd gasped and there were whispers of their relation. 

“You don’t know the meaning of love,” she said mortified as she looked around her, and pulled her arm in effort to extricate herself from his hands. 

“No, no, no, you don’t mean that,” Edward said. 

Lord Babington’s hands and arms shoved against Edwards's chest pushing him back from her. 

“You should leave, now,” he suggested, as kindly as he could. 

“You love me,” Edward shouted. “You want me, Esther.”

Babington, continued to push him back, escalating the spectacle. 

“You should leave,” Babington said again. 

“Only if she tells me to!” Edward shouted. “Esther?” 

Esther turned and looked at her stepbrother, horrified as tears ran down her eyes. “Just go.” Her voice breaking. 

Lad Denham’s voice came over the show. “Mr. Parker,” she said to Sidney. “Would you be good enough to put this young man on the next coach to London?” she asked coldly as she took a final, disapproving look on her nephew. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, of course. Come on, Edward.” 

Edward softened now. “Please.” 

Lord Babington and Sidney both now went at the man on either side to ensure the least fight. 

“Come, on,” they both whispered. 

“She will turn on you too.” Edward cautioned Lord Babington. “You hear me? She’ll tear your heart out as she tore out mine.” 

Charlotte rushed after Esther who had run from the premise. 

“Oh, my god Miss Heywood, what could you think of me?” she asked, tears coursing down her face. 

Charlotte just crouched low to where Esther had found refuge on a corner chair. “I promise you, I am not thinking ill of you,” she whispered. 

Esther squeezed her eyes. “I loved him.” 

Charlotte offered her a handkerchief. “It will be alright. Men like him never deserved it.” 

Esther nodded and cried all the more. “That just makes it worse. All the wasted years.” she gasped. “I rejected Lord Babington, and I actually feel something for him.” she shuddered. 

Charlotte put her hand on Esther’s shoulder. “He is still here.” She whispered. “Still trying to be your friend.” 

Esther wiped her wet eyes. “Friend, men just want to control you” she laughed through her tears. “What a fool I am. My aunt must think me such an utter weak idiot now. ” 

Charlotte shook her head thinking of Sidney and how he offered her freedom from their marriage. How he did not wish to control her. She felt Lord Babington was like that. 

Standing as they sensed Lord Babington approach Charlotte met him leaving Esthers side.

“Ah, Sidney sends his apologies. He is making sure Sir Edward is safely dispatched.” he looked regretful. 

“Thank you,” she whispered and backed out to allow them privacy. 

Lady Denham stood outside. Mrs. Griffiths close by. 

“How is she, Miss Heywood.” She asked. 

Charlotte nodded. “She is talking with Lord Babington.” 

Lady Denham shook her head. “What we need is another distraction. Something big,” she muttered and fanned herself. “Another scandal or her reputation is ruined.” she sighed. 

Charlotte felt the certificate tucked in the sleeve of her glove and she blinked and smiled. Originally it had been meant to save her own reputation and Georgiana’s but now it could be used to save Esther. 

Besides she had been intending on accepting anyway before Sidney and her last conversation. It was bound to cause a stir in the town, she just hoped it would stir it up enough.

“Would you excuse me Lady Denham?” she asked and rushed from the room. 

The woman frowned as if she had entirely forgotten she was there at all. 

Moving from the dance hall she left the building entirely and went down the street. 

There at the crown, she saw Sidney load Sir Edward on the coach. 

As it left she approached. 

“Charlotte, I told Babington that I -“ he started and crossed the street. 

She met him halfway. “I know, but I could not bear another interruption.” Her approach intimate. 

He took her hands, as his voice shook “You-“ he took a shaking breath. “you will have me?” he asked. 

She nodded, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Sidney…” she cried. “Yes,” 

Leaning forward he pulled her into his arms. His mouth pressing against hers, needier than the last. Tears had fully formed in his eyes as he felt his heart fly. 

Pulling from her he restrained. “We can do this the right way, we can burn this and call the banns and get married here,” he suggested. “The way I should have gone about it. Your family, mine.” 

She shook her head. “No. Let us not,” she whispered, her hands gripped his. “We are married already. And besides, I don’t wish to wait.” she smiled up at his wide, happy eyes, full of emotion for her. 

He nodded and swallowed nervously. His eyes dropping from hers a moment, then rising to meet them shyly. “My thoughts exactly.” 

Charlotte smiled. “And besides, Sanditon needs a drama to save Esther’s reputation.” she smiled. “I mean… It is why we married in the first place, is it not?” she asked. “To save reputations?” she smiled with a chuckle. 

He nodded and laughed. “Yes, I suppose it is.” he kissed her again. Their mouths melding and pressing. 

Parting with an urgent growl he pulled from her. “Come, Mrs. Parker, we have an announcement to make with no more delay,” he said pulling her with him. 

With a sentimental smile, she allowed him to pull her joyfully after him down the darkened street to the dance hall. 

Racing into the ballroom, their cheeks were flushed from the rush. 

“Oh Charlotte,” Mary frowned. “I was just looking for you.” 

“Pray excuse us.” Sidney panted as he smiled. 

Tom stood. “What is it Sidney, you look stricken.” 

Sidney shook his head and patted his brother's shoulders. “All is well, I just have an announcement to make,” he said and looked to his right to Charlotte. 

Tom’s eyes lit up. “You didn’t, you have the-“ 

Sidney shook his head. “No, Tom,” he sighed. “Don’t try to guess it. I shall announce it presently.”

Mary gravitated to Tom while sharing a curious glance at Charlotte who seemed equally breathless. 

Lady Denham stood from her seat and fanned herself as she tried to ignore Mrs. Griffiths chatter in her ear. 

Moving to a prominent position Sidney looked to Lord Babington who gave him a knowing smile. Sidney nodded in his direction. His smile stretching to his eyes which wrinkled. 

“Could I have your attention.” he smiled shakily and chuckled as he scratched his face nervously. Unused to public speaking unlike Tom. 

“For all the excitement of the evening, planned and unplanned,” he began and looked around. “There is still more to share.” his eyes drifted to her as a laugh broke from his mouth. Nearly giddy with excitement as he dug into his pocket. 

“For nearly a month, the young woman Sanditon has come to know as Miss Charlotte Heywood,” he put out his hand for her to take and she did with a nervous bite of her lip. His arm pulled her to him as he looked down. His hand finally pulling out two rings, earlier given to him by his friend Mr. Crowe. “This beautiful, perfect young lady has been secretly my own Mrs. Parker.” 

Taking her hand carefully in his he slipped off her long glove as the certificate almost fell from it. He caught it and she took it from him with a blushing smile. 

He caught her finger and slipped a simple gold band on her finger. 

“We were married at Gretna Green weeks ago, and have been ever since.” he said as his eyes met hers. “That is all.”

She found he offered her now his ring, and she blinked tearfully as she took it and put it carefully on his hand. 

Applause broke out around them, as well as loud discussion of the spectacle. The gathering wondered what sort of antics they got on to in that carriage during those days together. 

Charlotte blushed as the town proceeded to assume the worst. 

“There was that scandalous enough for you?” he asked stepping close.

She smiled and looked around them. “We can only hope.” she laughed. 

Mary approached. “What a shock my dear.” she went to embrace her. “Here you have been family.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “Oh it is so much more complicated.” she wiped at a tear at her face with her bare hand since her husband had her glove. 

“And to think Tom kept going on about marriage to Mrs. Campion.” she glanced at her husband who still stood back absorbing the news, not yet offering congratulations.

The music had resumed and the gathering started to go back to their celebrations. 

Lord Babington came forward. “You sneaky devil, I thought perhaps a double ceremony, but you had already gone and done the deed.” he smiled and clapped him on the back. “I am so happy for you both,” he said. 

“I hope you have had half the same luck,” Sidney said near his ear. 

Lord Babington nodded. “I have my friend, She just accepted me.”

Sidney clapped him on the back. 

Esther embraced Charlotte. “Elopement. I had not imagined such for you.” she looked to Sidney and blinked. “Like I told you, Sidney was unpredictable.” 

Lady Denham approached and looked at Sidney with a nod. “An odd announcement. She is not a silly, superficial wife. However, Miss Heywood…I mean, Mrs. Charlotte Parker,” she looked her up and down seriously. “I thought you had not come to Sanditon in the seeking of a wealthy husband?” 

Charlotte remained silent and looked up to Sidney who looked down at her. 

“Worry not Mrs. Parker, I know what service you have just provided me and my niece Esther.” she looked to her. “A month-long marriage with a couple that barely acts as friends, it is very strange.” she shook her head. 

Sidney took Charlotte's hand in his for support. 

“I offer you both my congratulations.” the old woman said finally. “Though it is entirely improper if were to ask me,” she said with the roll of her eyes as she fanned herself with a turn she left them. 

Sidney looked to his wife and smiled, hardly believing it had all happened. It was there, out in the open. They had officially declared themselves man and wife in front of at least his family and friends. 

Tom finally approached. “I don’t know what to say, but in light of this new information, I can see how foolish my actions have been. To think a marriage to Mrs. Campion could have solved my problems was perhaps wishful thinking on my part.” 

“Perhaps, Tom?” Sidney asked, his hand now on his hip as he turned now protectively toward his wife.

Tom shook his head. “I don’t know what else to say, but I have been such a fool. Welcome to the family Charlotte.” Tom said with a clumsy bow. “I apologize for any strain my behavior has had on the early days of your marriage.”

“Where is Diana and Arthur?” Mary asked looking around. 

Georgiana smiled and came forward and hugged Charlotte. “They left before all the drama. You know how Miss Parker is. Arther cannot have any fun or she worries.” 

Mary frowned and looked to Sidney and Charlotte. “Oh well, they would not have wanted to miss this.” 

Sidney nodded. “Well, they will hear it tomorrow, I am sure.” he looked to Charlotte.

Georgiana smiled. “He tasked me to make you come to the ball.” she smiled. 

Looking to her husband she smiled. “Did he?” 

Sidney flashed her his most charming smile. “I did.” Stepping before her, he turned. “and now, may I have this dance?” he asked her, offering his hand. 

She nodded and took it. 

The room fell away as they touched and moved together.

As the dance ended Charlotte felt her heart hammering, and her knees weak. 

Missing a glove she felt her husband's bare hand touch hers, and it thrilled her more than she could say. Again taking her into his arms as he turned her on the dance floor. Their eyes connected. 

“It seems so strange to wonder since there have been no preparations, but where will we sleep tonight?” she whispered. 

She blushed realizing it was a natural thought at this point since they were already married. But normally there were after wedding plans. A house, or a bed to go to. The bed she had at Toms and Mary’s was too narrow and she did not know the accommodations Sidney kept. 

Many were taking their leave and the songs were no longer the great energetic reels they were earlier. 

He pulled her closer since the song did allow more liberty on account of the candles beginning to burn low. “It is not ideal, but I can get us a larger bed at the crown Hotel. The manager there will be put out about it, being it is so late in the evening.” his voice was husky. “But you need not feel hurried.” 

She looked up at him, her eyes curiously wide. 

“I just mean, you only just decided tonight, you might wish some time,” he said. “I can then put something more satisfactory in order...perhaps in a few days.” 

She shook her head. “Won't you be going to London?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Well, I suppose now we will be going to London,” he said turning her in his arms from him, then back. Their hands dancing as much as their bodies. 

She smiled as their chests met. “The Crown Hotel will be fine,” she whispered as the dance ended ended with a long draw of the bow on the strings. 

Sidney’s stomach flipped.

“Then, you must go back to Trafalgar's house and pack a small bag,” he said quietly. “Just something for the night. We will return for your other things tomorrow. I will fetch you once everything is in order.” he cleared his throat. 

She nodded and suddenly felt very nervous as he pulled from her to receive yet more congratulations amidst blushes and whispers. 

——

Entering the Crown Hotel Sidney tapped on the counter to grab the attention of the distracted manager. 

“Yes, Mr. Parker?” he asked. 

Sidney looked at the man seriously. “I need a change in rooms.” 

The slightly portly man nodded. “Can have you switched come tomorrow morning.” 

Sighing Sidney leaned forward and cursed. “No, it will be tonight,” 

“Something wrong sir?” he asked rubbing out the grub marks off the glass. 

Nodding Sidney. “I need a larger bed,” he explained. “Tonight.” 

The Hotelkeeper turned with a sigh, disinterested. “I see. You will need to turn down the bed yer self. I don’t have the time. If yer having company, she needs to be comin’ round the back and up through the servant stair, ya hear?” he threw over his shoulder. 

Sidney’s face grew hard and serious. “No, you see, this company which I speak is my wife,” he said the word, enjoying the feel of it as it fell from his lips. Though offended by the man's assumption, the response brought him pride. 

The manager turned. “I did not know yer was married. Why I was just hearin’ rumors you would be making a rich match soon. I don’t think you made it that fast so you must have been already married.” the man looked at him with a quizzical, heavy brow. 

Nodding Sidney slapped the counter. “I will take those linens now, and if you would point me in the direction of the room, along with your best bottle of whatever you have.” 

The manager did as bid and Sidney was glad for it as he followed the man's confusing pointing up to the landing and onto the corner room. There he found it did have a larger bed. Substantial, and a window that looked out to the sea a little. Lighting the fire himself he first made it as bright as he could and hoped it would warm up. 

Though it was midsummer, being by the sea often made it very chilly. 

Shaking a little he laughed at himself and scratched at his chin, thinking himself as nervous as an untried youth. 

Indeed he was. Though he had lain with a woman before, this was altogether new waters and uncharted territory. 

With a shuddered breath, he went to make up the bed which had the mattress leaned up against the headboard, airing out. 

While dressed in his finest he tackled the room like a housemaid and went to great effort to make it look as such. By the time he was through he knew he looked disheveled on behalf of the mirror that stood in the corner. 

Straightening himself he went to fetch his personal effects and before the hour was over he had a few candles lit, a bottle of red wine. 

Concerned that it was not enough he wondered if it was too late to order some cut cheese and perhaps an apple, or anything… with a shake of the head he tried to rein in his anxiety. None of this was planned. Not their elopement, not their romance, not any of it. After this night they would be able to plan. But for now. This would have to do. 

Sitting down by the fire a moment he looked at his hand and smiled. 

With resolve, he stood and regarded himself. “Do I look ready?” he whispered as he recalled their conversation the day before. 

Was she?

——

Mary had followed her into her room as she went to pack the small bag Sidney had whispered for her to pack. 

“I just don’t understand. Why would you both keep it a secret?” she pressed. 

Her back turned Charlotte stuffed in a nightgown, a robe, some slippers. 

She didn’t know where to begin. “Mary, I don’t even know where to start, but if you must know…” she sighed and her lip trembled and her hand shook with nerves. “That although I have been married nearly a month, tonight may really be my actual wedding night.”

“So you and Sidney haven’t…” she whispered, her eyes dropping in realization and deep thought. 

Charlotte blushed. “No. We haven’t.” 

Mary's hand covered her mouth. “Oh good heavens. Then this must be a lot to…uh.” Mary smiled and sat down on the bed. “Did your mother ever speak to you about what happens?” she asked. 

Charlotte reddened a deeper crimson and shook her head. “She did not need to. I am a farmer's daughter and the oldest of many younger siblings. I know where children come from.” 

Mary smiled. “But even with that knowledge it can still come as all very…” Mary struggled. “Very unnerving.” 

Nodding Charlotte felt her handshake a little. 

“Have you told your family?” Mary asked.

Shaking her head Charlotte felt shame. 

“Not to worry.” Mary smiled. “You shall come to a late breakfast, I am sure none of us will wake early, and then on to an important letter which will reach them tomorrow morning or afternoon at the latest.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, I cant tell them I am married in a letter. Perhaps engaged, but not married.” she sighed. “I can't do that to my father.” 

Mary laughed. “Well, I am sure you two will come to a reasonable decision on when to resolve that conflict.” she looked at her. “I am very please you are part of the family now Charlotte. I confess I did quite hope Sidney would take a shine to you. I thought you would be perfect for him.” 

Looking at her new sister in-law she cocked her head. “Did you?”

She nodded. “But then you both seemed to ruffle each-others feathers, I thought it a good sign.” 

Sitting down on the bed Charlotte closed her eyes. “I don’t know how it happened. One moment he vexed me greatly, then I realized I could not stop thinking about him but he still vexed me.” 

Mary nodded. “Oh yes, these men we love can plague us, can they not?” 

Charlotte nodded. “Lady Susan said something like that in London.” Giggling they laughed. “That they were an affliction, like the measles.” her mouth winced. 

Mary nodded. “Yes, I am afraid she is very wise my dear. Some cases however are more severe than others.” she thought of her own marriage and the awful case she had with her husband and took her hand, they laughed together. 

For a moment Charlotte felt a little anxiety ebb from her. 

“For all of Sidney’s severity, I do believe he will be a good husband.” Mary squeezed her hand. “Even if he hasn’t yet been the best one, your attachment has come under some very peculiar circumstances as I am coming to understand.” 

Charlotte nodded. “Yes, indeed. He is a good man,” she whispered. “Though he is complicated.” 

Mary nodded. “Come, I must allow you to prepare. I will go to the kitchens and see that a basket is made.” 

Charlotte smiled. “Thank you, for everything.” her hands went up. “Bringing me here…” 

Blinking Mary smiled. “I think you have it quite the opposite my dear. I think it is us that should be thanking you. You have been our savior since the very second we met.” Mary blushed. “In more ways than I even know I would guess,” she said. 

Charlotte looked down still feeling shame.

“I best leave you to prepare,” Mary said with a smile. 

Turning again after she had already left she popped her head in. “I cannot wait to tell the children you are now their aunt Charlotte,” she said with a final smile.

——

Sidney looked at Charlotte nervously. He held a small fabric sack in one arm as he waited

“Ready?” he asked as she met him at the stair. She was still in her ball gown which he smiled seeing her still just as lovely as earlier. 

She swallowed and nodded, feeling the double meaning.

Taking her bag in one hand he reached for her hand with the other. “Then come Mrs. Parker. The hour is egregiously late.” 

Mary covered her mouth, taken emotionally for a moment she wanted to reach for Tom’s hand but shied from it at the last second. But then she realized her instinct was to still reach for her husband. 

“Have a lovely night you two,” Mary said with a knowing smile. 

Sidney blushed and turned as he swallowed his personal embarrassment as he opened the door with the bag and his cane in hand he guided his new wife out the door together to their new life. 

The hotel was quiet but the manager had stayed faithfully at his post. His eyes brightened when he saw them enter. “Miss Heywood?” 

Sidney shook his head. “No, Mr. Brockin this is,” he hesitated and looked down at her with a smile. “my Mrs. Parker,” he said with a smile. 

Sidney looked down at her. “Come, our room is this way.” his voice was low.

It made her stomach coil. 

Once in the room Sidney put the bag down on the bed and the sack of food on the small table where the red wine and two glasses sat. 

“I suppose you would want a moment to yourself?” he asked after watching her silently turn about the room. 

She shook her head. “No, what would make you suppose that?” 

He blushed. “I just thought…” 

Charlotte shook her head and swallowed. “Perhaps, tonight…” her voice shook with fear, “perhaps we don’t think?” she suggested. 

He chuckled and pulled off his jacket and hung it up and nodded to her sideways. “Quite.” 

Her mouth felt dry as she listened to the fire burning in the fireplace. “Could we open that wine?” she asked nervous. 

Sidney went to the bottle and uncorked it as Charlotte pulled off her cloak and he turned having filled their two glasses. 

“Shall we attempt a toast?” he asked. 

He came to her and she took the glass from him. Their hands touching, unhurried. 

“To a strange elopement,” she whispered. 

He nodded. “I felt choked for the entire month. Like I could not breathe,” he confessed. 

She smiled. “Then to our choked elopement.” 

He nodded and swallowed with a laugh. “I suppose it was. To a happy marriage that started most uncommonly.” he smiled. “But now, perhaps we can breathe.”

Clinking their glasses she drank hers trying to be brave. “Perhaps more than breathing.” she put her glass down and stepped closer to him and he followed her action and pulled her to him. His mouth covered hers as he pulled her tightly to her. 

Curious fingers moved under his formal suit to his vest and he released her a moment to pull that off. 

His eyes found hers shining in the candlelight of the room. 

“Charlotte,” he whispered. “I-“ 

Turning she bit her lip. “My dress.” she pointed. “Can you?” she asked. 

His mouth watered as he stepped closer to her and he found the fasteners and strings. Loosening them he felt himself harden in anticipation and his gut knot in fear. He had never bedded a woman he cared for. 

Would he disappoint? Even worse, would he hurt her? 

Pulling the dress from her shoulders he found her linen petticoat, which he also untied and let it fall to the ground with the heavier fabric of the ball down. Slowly, almost teasingly he had to coax it down her body as then it revealed the back of her corded stays which lifted her full rising chest, which had caught his eye more than once. 

She turned and his eyes roved her body, hungry.

“Allow me to catch up, my dear,” he whispered shakily as his hands went to fumble with the buttons of his vest a

Charlotte’s fingers knew well how to untie her stays and were nimbly working to pull at the knots herself. 

Sidney slowed her as she sat to pull off her stockings and he stopped her kneeling before her. 

“Please, allow new husband that liberty,” he said pulling her now un-shoed foot to his knee and he pulled up her linen chemise up to the line of her stocking, tied by a yellow ribbon that he pulled off as his eyes drifted up her scantily dressed body to her shaking before him. Open. 

“Charlotte…” he whispered. “You are beautiful.” 

His fingers grasped at the line that ran at the top of her thigh and he pulled it down revealing her to him. The pad of his thumbs ran along her inner thigh eliciting a gasp from her as he dragged it over her knee and then down her calf. Exposing her foot and ankle to him he kissed the side of her foot and moaned against her bare skin. 

“I can't believe you are now my own, Charlotte,” he whispered as he reached for her other foot. 

She blinked leaning back a little on her arms not knowing how the vision of her nipples pressing visibly against the fabric of the chemise would have on her new husband. He pulled her second stocking off in more of a rush as he moved between her legs and captured her lips again. 

“Forgive me, for all misunderstandings, foul sentiments,” he said between their frantic kisses. 

Her eyes filled with emotion. “Willingly,” she said. 

Pulling the straps from his shoulders, Sidney felt ready.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is very very long, 11,500 words almost. 
> 
> There is another to come, as well as I believe a final chapter in chapter 6.... I hesitate to say that is the final because I keep pulling it out more. 
> 
> The reason for the changes in chapters is the earlier ones followed an episodic format, but this one does not because it just cannot since there are no episodes for what has followed. And if I did it in episode format the chapters would have been 25 thousand to 30 thousand words each and I cannot abide that. No no.... 
> 
> Anyway's, Forgive me GREAT AUNT JANE.... i went there, but i hope respectfully so.

Charlotte woke to the sound of the street below, her stomach grumbling and soreness between her legs. Blushing she recalled the night she had spent and turned to the other side of the bed to find it empty. 

A short note was penned on the pillow. 

It said simply. “Return soon, Sidney.” 

Her fingers gripped the small paper and poured over it realizing it was her first note from him. 

Laying back she watched as a feather drifted up above her and she smiled. The sounds of the town activity outside lulled her and she drifted a moment as she stretched. The movement causing her to feel a sharp pain. 

Sitting up an ache spread through her hips and lower belly. She had not expected that. 

Grasping the bedpost she moved gingerly as her legs felt strange at first. Weak at the juncture of her thighs she hobbled to the chamber pot as she went to relieve herself. As she wiped she found dried blood and other strange fluids that were sticky. 

Mildly horrified she blinked and tried not to overthink the oddities of the newness of it all quickly she finishing the task as her chemise fell back down. She went to her bag and pulled out a new clean linen one, not stained by her loss of virginity.

Barley finished dressing she was just tying the front of her simple dark maroon frock when Sidney entered without knocking, startling her. 

She gasped and turned her back instinctively. 

“Forgive me.” he blushed, seeing her afresh with the new day. The memory of the night before still clear in his mind and he turned to afford her some privacy. 

Glancing she finished and noticed he held a bunching of flowers in his hand, his hair still wet from the sea and undershirt damp. 

“I did not mean to startle you.” he tried to smile but he looked nervous around her still. As if now that they had declared themselves they still did not know how to act around one another.

She blushed and reached for her shawl. “Do you often take morning swims?” she asked. 

He nodded. “When I am tense, or anxious,” he confessed as he took off his jacket. “And only when I am here or in Antigua.” he smiled. “These are for you.” 

She took them. “They are lovely.” she sniffed them and wondered if there was any meaning to them. Allison her sister was always going on about flowers hidden meanings but Charlotte had never given any notice to those meanings. These were yellow honeysuckle.

“You were anxious?” she asked taking them. 

Sauntering closer to her he leaned forward and touched his nose to her.   
“I woke this morning wanting more of my wife than she was ready for I believe,” he said, his voice low. “I but wished to give you enough time to adjust to that kind of….” he swallowed, his mouth dry talking of the activity they shared. “Are you well?” he asked. “I know it can be…” 

Charlotte blushed and leaned in and kissed him. “I am sore but not injured,” she replied with a smile. 

Sidney nodded and kissed her. “Then perhaps tonight, or tomorrow…” he said his voice trailing embarrassed with how affected he was with the activities of the night before. 

She nodded as she pulled on his shirt with her own desires for proximity and touch. 

Kissing her again they started to forget and soon their bodies found themselves entangled again on the bed. Realizing it he groaned as he pulled back and he laughed. 

“Apologies Charlotte,” he said and stood from her and scratched his unshaven chin with his thumb “Come, we must discuss what awaits us now.” 

She frowned. “Well you need to go to London, when is your business concluded here?” she asked. 

He smiled. “You were all that was keeping me here, and now that I can take you with me.” his fingers ran through her still tousled hair. “It could be today, or tomorrow that we leave.”

Charlotte bit her lip. “Perhaps we could go to Willingden first?” she asked. “Stay for a few days?”

His eyes softened. “Is there a place we might be able to take for ourselves?” he asked. 

She nodded. “There is. A very small inn,” 

His lips pressed against hers again. “Then my dear, we shall go directly to Willingden tonight?” 

She smiled and tried to repress a giggle as her husband enjoyed his liberties better. 

——

Later in Trafalgar House that morning. 

“I simply can’t understand how a whole town knows of our brother's marriage, but we are the last,” Diana complained as she held her teacup that morning over breakfast. Sidney and Charlotte had not yet arrived. 

Arthur rolled his eyes and toasted his bread at the fireplace, shaking his head. “I was entirely fine last night.” he looked over his shoulder. “You overly worried about me.” 

She nodded. “I suppose I did. We missed all the gossip of the town. Fist the Denham scandal, then our own brother is married and to Miss Heywood!” she said in shock. “And how did that all happen! He was all but married off to Mrs. Campion yesterday.” she shook her head and her cup clanked. 

“Do calm yourself, Diana. It is good news after all.” Mary said over the table. 

Diana sighed. “But is he happy?” she asked. “I mean, he was so very in love with Eliza.” 

Just as she asked the bell rang and the manservant Wickens answered it. Knowing their way Sidney and Charlotte made their way through the hall and into the room. 

“Oh, you do look a dreary lot,” Sidney said brightly looking about his family with Charlotte on his arm. 

Mary shook his head. “Oh no Sidney, we were just discussing the new revelations with Diana and Arthur.” 

“Oh yes, and what profound revelations they have been, I am sure.” his face beamed as his smile crinkled his eyes. 

“Welcome to the family my dear Miss-“ Arthur blushed. “Oh, I mean my dear Mrs. Charlotte Parker.” he then looked to Sidney and clapped. “Bravo brother, you have made a truly unparalleled match, have you not?” 

Sidney nodded and looked down with a sheepish nod. “I would like to think so.” he then over to his new wife with his head cocked a little and a happy smile firmly on his face as he looked for agreement in her eyes. 

“Yes, of course…welcome to the family Charlotte,” Diana said and stood. “But it is so peculiar. I didn’t have the faintest notion, though I consider myself so observant.” she lamented.

Sidney chuckled. “No matter.” he looked to Charlotte indecisively. “Come, we have arrived hungry, and this looks wonderful, Mary.” 

Charlotte took her seat as he slid her chair in. 

“So what are in your plans today for the newly married couple?” Arthur asked. “Perhaps a romantic picnic?” he offered. 

Tom was still quite silent in the corner of the table, drinking his tea. 

Sidney shrugged. “Well, we must gather my wife’s things from her room here, and then we discussed setting off to Willingden,” he answered. “Meeting Charlotte’s family should have already happened by this juncture.” 

Mary nodded. “Shall we also go with you?” Mary asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, I think not,” he said. 

Tom sat forward suddenly. “You should have our carriage.” His voice strained. “As a wedding present.” 

Mary looked at him agog. 

Diana and Arthur sat confused. 

“Tom, I have my own carriage.” Sidney reminded him. “And it is more than suitable.”

“You will need to look fashionable enough in London on behalf of Sanditon, and I spent enough on that model,” Tom said putting his cup down. “You must consider it a wedding present, I insist.” 

Sidney frowned. “Thank you for the sentiment, Tom,” he said. “But don’t be ridiculous.” 

Mary looked relieved and picked her cup back up. 

“Of course now I won't require it,” Tom commented, morose as he picked up a local gazette and looked at it. “But you won’t accept it. Typical…,” he muttered despondently. 

Charlotte looked at Mary who seemed overwhelmed and uncomfortable by the subject. It did seem an odd gesture and so strangely handled. 

“What is going on with everyone?” Diana asked. “Just two days ago, everyone was in altered spirits and I demand an explanation.” 

Mary looked at Tom. “Shall I tell them too, Tom?” she asked. 

Sidney rolled his eyes. “Can we not eat first?” he asked and pulled some sausage to his wife's plate first and some eggs. Serving her first and then himself. 

“Tea?” he asked quietly, taking the opportunity to hedge in close to her. 

She nodded and he took her nervous hand and squeezed it on the table. 

The gathering sat silent a moment as they observed Sidney looked at Charlotte with small smiles as if distracted as he ate. 

“Have you put much thought as to where you will live primarily?” Mary asked suddenly breaking the tension. 

Sidney looked to Charlotte again and then the rest of them and chewed. “We have not discussed that no, but as you know my primary business is in London.”

“So it is Bedford Place, then,” Mary said. 

Charlotte looked at him surprised. “I thought we would live here.”

He shrugged. “We would have a residence here, eventually.” he agreed. “But my business is mostly in London, and occasionally in the North more and more as industry there grows apace.”

She voice raised a pitch. “The North?” 

He nodded as he wiped at his face. “Worry not, it is not exceedingly often, and you will come with me as often as possible,” he said and leaned to her closer adding under his breath. “When you are not in a delicate condition.”

She coughed and Diana looked at her concerned. “Are you quite alright Miss-“ she put her hand to her mouth. “Oh good gracious, this is going to take some getting used to,” she whispered. 

Charlotte smiled and nodded. “Indeed, it is.” 

The bell rang and Wickens again went to answer and they all turned expectantly, wondering who could be calling. 

In swept Lady Denham in all her serious grandeur. “I see, it is the entire Parker family.” she regarded them all. “No don’t bother to get up.” 

Sidney and Charlotte’s back was to her and both regarded each other nervously. 

“Might you, Mr. Tom Parker answer to me as to why the building has been halted?” she asked irritably. “Why I have been the last to understand that everything has been delayed right at the precipice of absolute success?” she continued the line of questioning as she leaned on her cane for support, drawing nearer to Tom and Mary. 

Tom blinked nervously. “Well, your ladyship I am afraid that decision was not -“ he hesitated. “Well, that decision was entirely taken out of my hands.” his weak voice defended. 

She frowned hard to the point of a confused glare. “Taken from your hands. How?” her voice sharp. 

Sidney cleared his throat to speak for his failing brother. 

“What my brother Tom means to say is that the situation became precarious and we needed to seek more assurances in London before we proceeded.” he tried to downplay the situation.

Lady Denham looked back at Tom and then to Charlotte who was staring pointedly at her barely touched plate, the old woman's heart hammered wildly in her chest as she sensed trouble.

She blinked. “Precarious. How do you mean? If all the necessary insurances were-“ her voice stopped as Sidney’s eyes dropped from hers, and she glanced again to Charlotte who also could not meet hers. 

Turning on her heel she seemed to breathe in deeply and leaned even more heavily on the cane. 

“Oh, I see.” as another bracing breath came. “Tom, I have just realized I have possibly been remiss in my trust of your capabilities.” she sighed. 

His jaw dropped. “Was not the regatta a grand success?” 

She nodded, “A touch of brilliance I would say. But it had all the colors of a woman’s conception all over it.” she rolled her eyes. “So don’t even try to claim you thought of it. Not to mention it was the new Mrs. Parkers connection to a very interesting and secular woman of London that brought the masses here.” her eyes flashed to Charlotte. 

“I have not invested so much to be iced out now.” Lady Denham shook defiantly. “Tell me now, in plain speak,” she asked. “We have a serious problem don’t we?” 

Sidney’s jaw clenched as his eyes gazed across the table to Tom in frustration. This honesty was going to ruin him he feared. 

“There are some problems,” Sidney said speaking in shallower truths hoping Lady Denham would fear the depths. 

The old woman shrugged and then blinked. “Minor or serious?” 

Sidney’s jaw tensed as dropped his chin. “Perhaps serious. I will know more when I get to London.”

Lady Denham clutched her cane and looked around at the table. 

“Then we shall have it resolved in a week perhaps,” she said brightly. Hopeful even. Denial on the edge of her voice. 

Sidney sighed. “I am afraid it may take several weeks more.”

Turning to the side she looked out the window to the street outside which was not as busy as it had been the day before. 

“Oh I see, that is why the windows are boarded up, and doors nailed shut.” she turned again. “There is no insurance, is there?” squarely facing them she looked at Charlotte who was looking at Sidney who seemed to be unsure what to say now. 

The table went silent a moment but it was Diana who sputtered first. “What? There must be a mis-“ 

“Diana-“ Mary whispered in an attempt to silence her.

Turning again on her heel, Lady Denham regarded Tom and he still could not meet her eyes. 

“You, Mr. Tom Parker gambled with my money when you know my opinion on the pastime?” she accused with anger. 

Sidney stood as did Charlotte shortly behind him. 

“I have a half a mind to blacken your name across the whole of England.” Lady Denham said with growing anger as she was now more sure by the word of her accusations. “I would see you in the poor house.” she spat. 

Mary looked near faint. 

“With all of your pretty promises, and lofty plans. Drained me you did!” she started to pace. Her heart to hammer. 

The woman looked to Sidney. “We are only fortunate no catastrophe has befallen this endeavor.” she sighed. “That would have been tantamount to losing my money at the gaming tables.” she lectured. “You despicable man!” she said as Tom shuddered. 

“Lady Denham!” Mary turned in her husband's defense and clutched the back of the chair. 

The old woman shook her head and put up her hand. “I am very sorry for you Mrs. Parker, but some things cannot be allowed to remain as they lie.” she straightened her back. “I want my money back. In full.” 

Charlotte stepped forward. “Lady Denham if you demand investment repayment in full you may be robbing yourself.” she winced and looked to Tom apologetically. “Mr. Tom Parker is no longer managing the project and the utmost caution is being exercised.” she sighed. “To protect your investment, albeit, perhaps at a delay.” 

Sidney watched her speak. He had intended to pull her back and shield her from the problem but now he saw how the old woman listened. How Charlotte could manage her in a way he could not. 

“Ah I see,” Lady Denham looked beyond her to Sidney. “So it is you that has taken over, Mr. Sidney Parker?” she asked. “I thought you felt this place beneath your aims?”

Sidney nodded curtly. “It is true, I have only recently developed an interest in its future.”

The woman looked to Charlotte. “I don’t suppose that has anything to do with your new choice of bride? The sudden interest?” 

He cocked his head and smiled slightly. “I confess my marriage has brought about growing concerns here since my new wife was so involved with my brother Tom’s family and the happenings here..” he nodded. “I took concern and as a result am myself overly invested, not knowing like you the depths of my brother's risk-taking until recently.” he hesitated but decided to be honest. “I must also confess that my name is tied equally to its fate. If it goes down, so will all my attempts at business here in England. I vouched for his good name openly. I may be forced back to Antigua, or worse…India if this mishap were to be made general knowledge among social circles.” 

Charlotte turned to him and her brow furrowed in question and shock. 

His eyes did not meet hers as he still looked at Lady Denham. 

“And what?” Lady Denham shook her head. “Leave your new wife here? What in Willingden, or here with your brother in this house he can't afford?” she shook her head. “And what if the boat sinks or you catch some hellish disease or fatal ailment in that godforsaken place India…” she shook her head. “Preposterous. How will that get me my money?”

Charlotte felt her heart constrict as she looked back at her husband speak of these possibilities she had not even imagined when she had started all this drama when she told him of the lack of insurance. 

Lady Denham’s eyes cast over the group and glared at Tom. “I cannot allow any more money to pass through Mr. Tom Parker's hands. Or any more promises from him. I will not abide it.” she slammed her cane ominously. 

The gathering shuddered in response. 

“But Mr. Sidney Parker, I know you to be cold, calculated but shrewd in your trade. You would not have the reputation you have if there were not some truth to it. On that I would wager something.” she looked to Charlotte with a sigh, then back to him as if trying to come to a decision. 

Mary held her breath, and Arthur sat filling his face still in watchful silence. The only sound, his chewing. 

“Can you get this back on track before the seasons end?” The woman asked. “Because from where I stand it all seems lost. Insurance is not cheap.” 

Sidney blinked and leaned on his hip. “I suppose I could have some luck, but I think it more possible by fall.” 

Swallowing Charlotte stepped forward. “Lady Denham, we will do all we can in London to secure the financing to get the proper insurance. The building will resume and in the meantime perhaps the furnishings could be commissioned.” she offered. “They will not demand payment until after, and that is something that needs to be finished anyway at jobs end. And will not need to be postponed.” she offered eagerly. She knew women like lady Denham did not like lost time or money. 

Sidney nodded but knew it too was a gamble. 

“But who will pay for it if the financing will not come through?” Lady Denham asked. “I will not put another shilling to this project when I have so utterly lost faith in it.”

Sidney sighed. “I will pay for it. I will stand for the remainder of all things necessary for the project,” he promised with a tension he felt throughout his entire body. 

She shook her head. “You have three weeks Mr. Parker. Three, or I will be calling the debt in. And you will still be paying for the furnishings,” she said finally. “And the men.” 

The woman turned abruptly and left without agreement, leaving Charlotte and Sidney bewildered a moment as they both tried to feel relieved but could not. 

“What a dragon,” Tom said with a roll of his eyes. “But did I not tell you? Had you kept the building going we would be on the brink of it all succeeding.” 

Sidney clenched his teeth and looked to his brother. “No, I refuse to allow that. You would have us risk it all, and I cannot allow that.” 

“If it is money you need, I have a fair bit from my inheritance I have hardly touched,” Arthur said seriously. “With no wife and no property, I have nothing to do with it. It is yours.” 

Sidney frowned. “Arthur, I can’t do that,” he said. 

“How much is needed?” he pressed the subject. 

Sidney shook his head. “Arthur, you need it for your life. I won't have another Parker ruined with this obsession.” 

Mary winced at the severity of the chosen words, and Tom rolled his eyes while Charlotte just looked entirely uncomfortable with how the morning and breakfast had gone. 

Shrugging Arthur frowned. “I insist on then investing three thousand. That is one-third of my fortune,” he said seriously. “I won't be ruining my life if I am investing will I?” 

Sidney frowned. “I can’t guarantee a healthy return.” he sighed. “Or any return.” 

Arthur buttered another toast. “Well, then I would have only lost one third. No great tragedy eh? Better than at the gaming tables as Lady Denham would say.” he chuckled and then realized no one at the table found it nearly as funny as he did at the moment. 

“That is generous, brother,” Tom said. “That should help inch us to the sum needed. Sidney will take the money.” 

“Well, I entirely lost my appetite,” Sidney said looking to Charlotte. “Shall we fetch your things, my dear?” he asked moodily. 

Charlotte nodded and Mary sighed crossly. “This was supposed to be a lovely celebratory breakfast.” she protested. “We haven’t even told the children!” her voice followed them. 

Sidney nodded. “We shall tell them before we leave. Excuse us,” he said leading Charlotte to the hall. His hand wrapped tightly in his.

Rising the stair Charlotte followed him and went to the bedroom she occupied during her weeks there. Upon arrival, he closed the door behind them with a firm hand and leaned on it a moment. His face was hard and brooding. 

She turned and watched him until he looked at her seriously.

“Charlotte,” he said his voice cracking. “I am sorry,” he whispered. 

She turned surprised. “Whatever for?” she asked. 

He looked near faint. “This family is not the easiest one too-“ he started but she was moving swiftly to him and covering his mouth with her hand. 

“Don’t you dare Mr. Parker,” she whispered. “That is my new family you were about to disparage,” Her wide eyes met his with tenderness. “and despite their flaws, I am fond of each of them,” she took her hand from his mouth and kissed him. 

He met hers with heat that she consumed for him but a face that was crestfallen. 

Breaking the kiss moments later he pressed his head against hers, their hand entwined meaningfully as he paused needing to speak but not wanting to discuss the looming subject before him. 

“We must leave for London sooner,” his voice caught and he swallowed to regain his ability to speak. “Charlotte…” his voice again soft and full of regret. “I am afraid there is no time to go to Willingden until after we manage the near impossible.” 

She pulled her face from his. Disappointment glowed in her eyes. 

“I can't tell them through a letter,” she said seriously, a sheen of fresh tears threatened to gather. “I just can’t.” 

He sighed, and rubbed at his face, and turned to the side. A chasm of disagreement between them. 

“We have little choice.” he shook his head stubbornly. “It could be another month before we get the chance, and what would I say to your father two months married and not even a word of it?” he shook his head. “No,” he disagreed. “we must write him Charlotte.” 

She winced. “It is delicate. You are certain there will not be time?” she asked feeling tears. “Perhaps just an afternoon?” she tried to bargained. “Is it really so out of the way?” 

His eyes held hers darkly. “I would have made the time if Lady Denham had not put an impossible timeline on it just now. I had hoped she would be overly involved with the wedding of Miss Denham and Lord Babington to notice for at least a week and Tom could have said I was already in London trying to solve the issue.” 

She looked at him confused. It was just perhaps a single day out of their way. 

He sighed and stepped to her and his hands took one of hers in his and cradled it. 

“The business world of London does not feel pressing on one's time at a glance, but it is.” His tone was low and gentle as his hands caressed hers. “Opportunities can land on your feet and fly away in an instant and we haven’t a moment to lose. Three weeks is a blink of an eye to manage what we must when already Tom has had the whole of London shut the door in his face.” 

Feeling the difficulty of the situation she went to finish the job and he joined her feeling apologetic for the lofty promise of earlier. 

“I am sorry. If it could be now, It would be much preferred,” he said. “I am just glad it is known that we are married and I am not leaving you behind.” he folded a shawl and packed it in roughly. 

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know how to tell my parents that we are married by my pen. My father will probably think the worst.” she tried to smile. 

He reached for her cheek. “He would not be wrong. I am not a good catch at the moment. Family on the brink of bankruptcy.” he shook his head and looked around to see if they missed anything. “Come, I told a falsehood at the breakfast table. I am hungry still,” he confessed. 

Charlotte blushed. “I am too,”

He shook his head. “We will need to leave as soon as possible. I won't even have time to see Georgiana. She is sure to be upset. I made some promises to her as well that I must delay in following through on and she is likely going to think the worst of me.” he kissed her hand. “I will leave her a note, and see that it gets to her.” 

Charlotte took a deep breath. “So we are leaving now for Bedford Place?” 

“In a matter of hours if possible.” he nodded. “You can leave word with Mary for any friends.” 

She nodded her head overwhelmed. 

“We only have time for a quiet lunch before we leave.” he wanted to languish in the fullness of their intimacy a little more before a further eight hours in a carriage but their time now was short. 

“It will be a very long afternoon and evening,” she whispered thinking how sore she was after the long carriage rides from Scotland. 

He nodded. “But we will be able to relax better on the journey.” he smiled recalling how they maintained their distance so rigidly on the road before.

“Then what?” she asked. “When we arrive in London, how will we accomplish this task?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “Creatively I suppose…” he shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know. But I hope to meet with Baber’s and Crowe. Maybe they will have an idea.” he sighed. “Tom had every financer door slammed in his face before the regatta, now we are going to try all over again. I will need to exercise all of my connections.”

Charlotte touched his face. “You will find a way.” her tone was confident. 

Shortly later her trunks were stacked in the parlor. Sidney told Wickens to have them loaded in his carriage while Mary stood upset that her breakfast did not work out as planned. She hugged Charlotte tearfully but she was no less happy to now be able to embrace her as family. 

Charlotte hugged the children as did Sidney. Both sharing special glances as they harbored their own hopes for a family one day in the future but for now, there was an urgency to their departure. 

Leaving Trafalgar House Charlotte gripped her husband's arm tighter as they encountered Mr. Stringer. 

He pulled off his hat sullenly. “I heard the news this morning that you were owed congratulations,” he said with a nod, as he looked down. “I should have been much faster it seems when I realized what a catch you were. .”

Sidney nodded. “My thanks, Mr. Stringer.” He looked to his wife who seemed to blush. “It was an uncommon occurrence, and you have my personal apologies for the secrecy. I know you and I spoke of my wife yesterday, and I could not speak of it then.” 

Mr. Stringer shook his head. “I just don’t understand why. If I was married to the likes of her I would be cryin’ in out in the streets. No hidin’ it.” he then blushed and shook his head. “Apologies Miss- I mean Mrs. Parker.” 

Charlotte smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Stringer.” she looked up to her husband uncomfortable. 

Sidney nodded and cleared his throat. “I do think my public announcement last night at the ball has rendered such action unnecessary.” Clearing his voice Sidney changed the subject. “How is your father today?” 

The younger man frowned and then looked down and away from the couple. “Fractious as always. He is sure we will be back to work in a matter of days.” 

Sidney nodded. “Good. Well, I have seen that a partial wage is being paid so that I can assure the men will be available and not afield when I need you all back to work. Do you think that will be enough?” 

Mr. Stringer nodded. “It is generous, but I fear if it goes on too long partial wages won't be enough.” 

Sidney nodded. “I can't pay them if they are not working, so what other projects can they do that won't interfere with my issue that we spoke of yesterday?” 

Mr. Stringer scratched his jaw and looked at Charlotte wondering how much she knew. “We could get to widening the roadway coming into the town. When the regatta happened all those carriages coming through tore up the road. The job will need to be done or it will be a muddy mire come fall.” he said. “We were just planning for it after the building was finished.” 

Sidney nodded. “If it keeps the crew here, I just need perhaps a month.” 

Mr stringer shook his head. “I am not sure I can keep the lads around that long. They will need to feed their families.” his eyes flashed to Charlotte’s. 

Sidney nodded. “Well, we will deal with that issue later then, and just try to be as quick about it as possible. We will be back in a few weeks.” 

Mr. Stringer cleared his throat. “Excuse me. I must be holding you up,” he said stepping aside. “My congratulations again Mrs. Parker.” his eyes spoke of melancholy and heartbreak as his hand tipped his hat. 

“Thank you, Mr. Stringer. I hope your father feels better,” she said her heart beating as she was led back to the Crown by her husband who’s mood seemed even darker than it had been earlier at Trafalgar House. 

Entering the hotel Sidney sighed. “Go on up to the room,” he said. “I shall have some food brought.” 

Charlotte nodded and went ahead as she avoided the curious glances of familiar patrons. 

Coming to their room she closed her eyes mentally drained. 

A quarter of an hour later he entered with a large tray and smelling of smoke and spirits. 

“Settled our bill and wrote an apology to Georgiana,” he said clipped. His back was turned. 

She shook her head. “Strange morning.” she sat on the bed trying to absorb all the rapid changes.

“Am I wrong to think that Mr. Stinger had reason to hope?” he asked suddenly as the tray slammed on the table. “I saw you go off alone with him at the regatta.” 

Charlotte blushed 

“Charlotte,” he grew impatient. “Did…” he started but thoughts of two days before with them walking off together filled his mind. “Do you have feelings for him?” 

She shook her head. “I could have, had you not come in so forcefully and confounded me, and roused such an anger.” she swallowed feeling that anger rise again. “I was too busy with my confusing emotions over you, then our encounter at the cove.” she huffed. “I hadn’t the chance!” she defended herself with rising emotion. 

He put a hand on his hip and realized what a jealous fool he was being and he laughed as he noted the color in her cheeks. The spark of fire in her eyes lighting. 

“What about Mrs. Campion?” Charlotte shot back. “I had to endure being abandoned in London in the middle of a dance floor, and you escorted her here at the regatta while we were married…” she paced a short step. “and now the entire town knows how jilted I am. Publicly.” she enunciated as she lightly hit herself on the head. And an infuriating tear entered her eye to speak of it. “And here I thought I had reason to be happy.” 

He took a long stride to her. “You are entirely right.” he smiled. “I am a brute, not much improved at this moment now am I?” 

She rolled her teary eyes at him as he kissed her head to soothe her ire.

“Forgive me,” he requested. “you are entirely right.” His head shook. “And you need not worry about Mrs. Campion. I don’t see her after you. I may have momentarily lost my mind in London at that silly rout, but Charlotte, I-”

Dropping his mouth to hers he felt her lips finally press against his hotly and he felt her give in to his earnest request to work with him. 

“I am not practiced at this Charlotte, and I had little example of marriage growing up” he whispered sadly as he touched her neck with his fingers. 

Her tears were still on her face. “Yes, I still suppose there is room for improvement.” she sniffed. “But I have no feelings for Mr. Stringer beyond friendship and admiration for his trade, but you cannot fault me for being able to observe that he is a fine and capable young man. And I should have been happy to have gained his interest,” she said with a serious frown. 

Sidney swallowed and nodded. “You are quite right, he is a fine young man as there ever were from Sanditon.” he sighed and looked away wanting to change the subject entirely. 

“Come, we must eat,” he said. 

Sitting down he looked at it and realized this was their first meal just them and they had their first marital disagreement. He felt regret, but he instead reached for her hand and tried to find a connection to her that way. 

“Shall we pray?” he asked. “I don’t know if that is your sort of thing.” 

She took his hand and nodded. “I had not thought you the faithful kind?” 

He smiled. “I had not thought it myself either. But you are here.” 

——

Entering Bedford Place Charlotte felt as heavy as the smoke-filled skies behind her. Her backside felt raw, and she could almost feel the movement of the carriage still despite standing on solid ground. 

Their journey had been marked with a thrown wheel and a few downpours which brought them into London at an ungodly hour. She wondered if it was some kind of a sign for the ill-luck to come. 

One optimistic observation was her husband had been tender and aware of her every comfort and it felt odd to her to be looked after so.

“Mrs. Parker will have a bath,” Sidney said to the female servant still in her nightclothes with a heavy robe on.

“Mrs. Parker?” the maid asked sleepily, for the hour was late or early depending on who’s opinion you asked. If it was the servants, it was early, if it was a night carouser, it was late. 

“Yes, Mrs. Jefferson. This is my wife, formerly Miss Heywood, she stayed with us a few weeks ago. She was my wife then but we neglected to mention anything at the time.” he said in a clipped and impatient tone. “I will ah…I will explain later. We have had a long night, and I know my wife is sore. I am aware of the hour but a bath would be much appreciated.” he said simply. “this will not be a common occurrence, but I must insist on her behalf.” 

Charlotte looked around. It had only been a hand full of weeks but it seemed ages since she had come. Though it was a beautiful house it still felt strange to think it was now her home. 

“Come, my dear. We shall take the larger chamber. It is usually saved for Tom and Mary but since this is my primary residence it will be ours.” he said taking her hand in his warm one. “It has a large and comfortable bed.” his eyes glanced back at her. 

Having dropped bonnet at the door table she watched the staff awaken and rub at their eyes as they lit the candles. 

“Should we not have let them sleep?” she asked. 

“It is their job,” he answered. “But you should come and rest,” he told her. “I will join you until mid-day then I am off to Lord Babington’s.” 

The fire was being lit as she entered a lovely room. It had a four-poster bed with enviable linens that the servants were turning down. 

Her hands ran across it and she felt akin to her arrival to Sanditon. But this lacked the fresh air and the freedom that the seaside town made her feel. 

Their luggage was being brought in by the manservant Jenkins and a few of the maids who moved about in a bumbling sleepy fashion. 

“Thank you,” Sidney said. “You can manage this later,” he said and sent the servants off now that the room was prepared enough and turned down. 

“Will you come help me in the bath?” she asked. “It was large enough when I used it before the ball.” 

He looked at her not answering for a moment. 

“so that we can soothe our aches together,” she added nervously thinking it a bit more scandalous that even a married wife should suggest. 

“It is a marvelous offer, my dear.” he stepped closer, feeling the tension he held bound inside of him for hours. The small argument at the crown and then the long carriage ride meant he had not given in to his longing for her and now he wanted to soothe all of those misspoken words, said in irrational jealousy.

“I would be a fool indeed to refuse such a delicious offer. For I am so entirely undeserving.” He had already discarded his heavy leather coat but now he still had his leather riding vest which he was unbuttoning. 

Before he could reach her there was a knock at the door. 

“Yes?” Sidney answered he fisted his hand as it hovered in the air between them. 

“Would you be liking some tea, Mr. Parker?” Mrs. Jefferson asked. 

“Would you?” he asked suddenly no longer impatient with the interruption since it concerned her comfort. 

Shaking her head she swallowed. “No, but perhaps some hot water with lemon would be nice. The dust from the road,” she explained.

He nodded and smiled. “Hot water and lemon if we have lemon, Mrs. Jefferson,” he answered as the doors closed lending them privacy. It would be a while before the bath was ready. 

Pulling her dress off they fell upon the bed again, overly eager in the presence of a bed despite fatigue.

They were informed nearly an hour later that the bath was ready and they both found it entirely restoring and were soon abed the rest of the morning. 

——

Sidney awoke the next morning aching again for his wife.

As the sun rose he turned fully on his side. A contented smile ghosted across his face as he watched her sleep, her face tucked into the pillow. Her upturned nose dusted delightfully with freckles begging to be kissed.

His fingers itched to touch her. Feet felt magnetically pulled to hers as he saw her hip outlined under the covers. But he hesitated. 

He should not be so utterly distracted by his new wife that he forgot their necessary mission and wiled the day away in bed. 

Time was of the essence. Remembering that he slipped out of bed and struggled again with neglecting to kiss her as he had the day before, having not yet determined how much of a light sleeper she was, he did not wish to disturb her. 

Deciding against it he chose instead to look upon her tenderly and mentally wished her a good afternoon and left as silently as he could manage. 

His clothes were still in his old room so he went there to ready himself for the day. He did not bother to shave, deciding later, before the night's activities would be better. 

He ate a quiet breakfast, instructing the servants not to disturb the lady of the house, but to keep meals warm and ready for her should she ask. 

Over his morning coffee and his smoke, he imagined her beside him. They had yet to share a proper morning together and this would be their home, for a time at least. He hoped they could afford a place of their own.

Bradford Place was really Tom’s. But it had largely been considered the Parker London House. Tom much preferred Sanditon since he was more accepted there as a person of importance. He always felt somehow lacking in London. 

Sidney had always felt something lacking in London too, but it wasn’t acceptance. He always felt wanted, but yet like he never belonged. But now with his wife, this house did not feel as empty as it had. It felt comfortable and inviting. 

Before their marriage, he would often stay out all night and get blindingly drunk and wake up on many a tavern table. Or if he was of a lusty disposition he would wake up in a boarding house room with blurred visions of a painted woman and feelings of self-loathing only to return to the empty Parker family home. 

Now there was the promise of a family again and he was hopeful and even eager for it. 

With her on his arm even the most monotonous activity suddenly held interest. 

Now it could be possible lost forever to them if he could not manage Lady Denham’s demands. Called debts to the tune of what was owed to her would lead to other investors calling in theirs. And they would all be ruined. 

He seethed wondering if his brother Tom’s gamble had been perhaps worth it and it was he who blew it. Perhaps he should have kept the building on schedule and kept his mouth shut. I may not have been his way to do things it was proving to likely have been the safer option now that Lady Denham was threatening to call in the debt. Even with a standing building they were nearly all but ruined anyway. 

His mood was souring by the moment. 

Talking to Babington would help….

Finishing his late breakfast he wasted no time to attend the early afternoon call. 

“The announcement in the paper is a very grand Idea. Careful wording is suggested. Something like, ‘close family and friends offer congratulations to Mr. Sidney Parker on his marriage to a Miss Charlotte Heywood of Willingden.” Lord Babington said in his billiards room. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes. I do suppose that will suit.” over drinks. 

“When will it run?” His friend asked. 

Sidney sighed. “I thought the day after tomorrow. An expensive slot and make a show if it.” 

“The opera tonight is also a good idea but perhaps you should bring a chaperone. Just until the announcement is made.” Lord Babington said. 

Sidney scoffed. “She is my wife. I do not need a chaperone to escort my wife.” 

Lord Babington nodded. “Yes, but assumptions can be made rather fast and without clear announcement, they will think she is just some fresh-faced doxy on your arm.” 

He frowned. “I suppose you have a point. I shall give it some thought.” 

“The dress she wore at the ball in Sanditon was lovely, and I could give you several others, but my sister is still a fair bit shorter than miss Heywoo-“ he blushed. “Excuse me, it is taking some getting used to. Mrs. Parker,” he laughed at the correction. “You should have them taken to have some trimming added so that they suit her better.” 

“Thank you,” Sidney said seriously. “I have intent to get her fitted, but dresses can take weeks and I don’t have weeks to have dresses for her to move about society.” he smiled. “I appreciate the help.” 

Babington smiled. “Well, my spoiled sister never likes to wear a dress twice but refuses to give any away. She never would notice if some were to go missing. Come now, let us go pick out what would suit her.”

Sidney put his drink aside and shook his head. “This is very generous,” he said 

Lord Babington nodded. “It is, but the fabric will just go to waste and be eaten by moths, or fall apart with time. And fashions change.” 

“But will your sister recognize anything on my wife if she were to see it?” Sidney asked. 

Lord Babington laughed. “Perhaps, I will tell her in a letter that I gave away some of her clothes to Mrs. Charlotte Parker in a fashion emergency. She will be intrigued and find that vastly hilarious that you of all people had a fashion emergency.” 

Sidney chuckled. “Good. I don’t wish to make my wife feel any more of an outsider than she already feels.” 

Lord Babington stopped and the door. “Well, we can't have that. When my future wife comes I am sure they will be in each other's confidences. They will find solace in the changes together. Thought I think Esther is glad to leave Sanditon. She references little else since the announcement.” 

Sidney sighed. “My wife hates London.”

Babington frowned. “Well, you will have to persuade her of the merits.”

His smile did not give Sidney any confidence. 

“I am afraid I am not convinced of the merits myself anymore.” 

Babington laughed disbelieving. “Sidney Parker, you have changed. What does the small burgeoning town of Sanditon hold more appeal?” 

Sidney shrugged and nodded. “I suppose it does, in ways. perhaps not quite in others.”

Opening the trunks they went through the things. 

“So, how do you like being married?” Babington asked almost nervously thinking of his own looming marriage. 

Sidney found himself smiling and shook his head. “Not as tedious as I thought it might have been.” he pulled out a corded stay that had lovely embellishments and he wondered if it would fit his wife’s bountiful bosom and decided to toss it to the pile to take. 

His friend laughed. “I never thought a woman would pierce that hard heart again.” 

His face dropped. “Any silk stockings?” Sidney asked changing the subject. 

Lord Babington nodded. “Of course.” he laughed. “And silk ribbons.” he rolled his eyes. “My sister has been spoiled.”

He laughed and took the pairs of stockings from his friend. 

“You have not yet told me why you have come back to London so fast,” he asked. “Not even a stop to meet Charlotte’s family. Something must have happened.” 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, and I am a wretched husband for it, but I had no choice.” he cursed and sat. “I will tell you, but you must promise not to try to bail me out or tell a soul,” he said. 

His friend looked at him seriously. “Bail you out?” he asked and came around the bed. “What is it?” 

Sidney looked up at him. “Your oath to not tell a soul?” 

Babington nodded realizing that it must be very grave. “Of course.” 

“Tom did not insure the building,” Sidney admitted to him.

Babington frowned. “Is that all?” he scoffed. “Well, it is not like the place has burnt down. You still have time to get insurance.” 

“No,” Sidney shook his head. “I have three weeks or the principal investor your future aunt Lady Denham is calling in her debt and I am already far overextended myself.” 

Babington’s mouth dropped a fraction as Sidney continued. 

“I helped Tom pay for the regatta and I have been paying the laborers and for the back wage that Tom has neglected to pay,” he said darkly. 

“Oh,’ Babington sat down and nodded. “So all that drama at the cricket?” 

Sidney nodded. “Tom had not paid them in weeks.” 

“How does a man not pay for insurance?” Babington asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “My brother is far more frivolous than I thought, and not as successful with finance as I once gave him credit for.” he sighed. “The first real conversation I had with Charlotte was about my brothers. She knew how reckless he was even then, and I shouted at her for it. I admonished her and shamed her to the point of tears.” He sighed.

Lord Babington clapped him on the back. “Are you sure I cannot be of any service my friend?” he asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “You already are.” he picked up the lace chemise and smiled. “These are quite delightful.” 

They both laughed together. 

“Then we will gather them and you can bring them home to your wife presently.” he smiled and went to the door. “Miss Brand, could you perhaps help us assemble a few ensembles for my friend's wife here?” 

A half an hour later there were three trunks full of items that were being loaded now in his dark carriage. 

“Will you be at the opera tonight?” Sidney asked. 

Babington shrugged. “I had other plans to meet Crowe.” 

Sidney nodded. “I would come out, but-“ 

His friend laughed. “You are newly married. We will not see much of you again in the men’s club until you have a few in the cradle.” 

Sidney looked down. “It’s how I do business.” he sighed. 

“Perhaps you will need to find a new angle.” he clapped him on the back. “I hope she enjoys the lovely voice of Angelica Cantalani. She has been well advertised.”

Sidney nodded. “I was hoping for a diverse crowd to mingle with. I must exercise new connections.”

Babington nodded. “I wish you luck old friend.” 

“Say thank you to Crowe,” Sidney said. 

Babington squinted. “For what?” he asked. 

Sidney fiddled with his gold band on his finger. “He will know. And for god sakes, ask him to be your best man,” he said with a smile. 

“What makes you think he would be interested in the job?” he asked. 

Sidney inhaled a long drag of his smoke as the final trunk was loaded. “Simply put he would be the best man for the job.” he looked back at the carriage then his friend. “Take my word for it.” 

——

Sleeping so late she was sure it was nearly late afternoon she sat up confused and looked around the room. For a second she did not know where she was. But in an instant she recalled. She was in Bradford Place and this was her new home. In her new bed which she shared with Sidney Parker. 

Smiling she turned lazily not feeling the same ache she had the day before. She must have been growing used to the activity. Touching her chest she marveled at how she was suddenly so aware of certain parts of her body that she had before made a conscious effort to not pay much attention to. But it seemed her husband had the keenest interest in those places. 

Her hand passed over her pebbled breast and she touched her stomach lazily and sighed. She could not become a woman of leisure and it was past the hour to rise. 

Washing and dressing quickly she let her hair hang down as she went downstairs. She knew her husband was going to be out that afternoon but she was eager to know if she had missed him. 

Coming to the foyer she noticed his cane and hat were missing. 

“Afternoon Mrs. Parker.” Came Jenkin's voice. “Will you be wanting a late lunch, perhaps tea?” 

She nodded. “Yes please.” she smiled. “I am terribly famished.” 

He nodded and turned to go right to the task.

Feeling more explorative she moved through the house more as if she belonged. She found the study and there she could smell the smoke Sidney puffed on. 

Circling the desk she marveled at how different the bothers were. Tom was disorganized but Sidney was tidy and seemingly fastidious in the cataloging of his interests. 

Looking to his shelves she was delighted to see a variety and she eagerly read titles as her fingers ghosted over the spines. 

Hearing the maid had brought a tray she left the office and went to the table and found the paper still sitting where her husband had. Creased carefully she picked it up and let Wicken’s pull out the chair. 

“Thank you,” There she found a quiet moment to herself as she looked at the strange topics of The London Chronicler, subheading Universal Evening Post, a thrice-weekly paper that featured the artistic, literary, and theatrical events of society. And in the center, there seemed to be quite a to-do at the Theater Royal that night with a singer Charlotte had never heard of, a soprano Angelica Cantalani.

Startling she dropped her fork and her face turned to the front door as she realized it opened abruptly, which could only mean her husband had returned home.

“Afternoon Wicken’s, is my wife well?” Sidney’s voice asked from the hall. 

“She is sir, just eating her-“ he stopped speaking as she entered the foyer. 

Her husband turned, his hat already handed off, as was his jacket and his cane. 

“I would say morning, but it is near evening.” he smiled. 

She blushed. “The journey yesterday was arduous.” she bit her lip not know how the action teased him. 

He smiled and nodded. “Wicken’s there are trunks as you can see, I need them all brought up to our bed chamber and unpacked with haste,” he said. 

“What are all these?” she asked.

He came closer. “Small and large favors from friends.” he leaned in and kissed her as he walked her back to the parlor for more privacy. “Lovely clothes for you to wear out my dear,” he said between ardent kisses. 

“Babington again?” she asked. 

He nodded. 

“He really is too kind.” Charlotte protested. “I can't-“ 

Sidney smiled and ran his and through her natural hair. “We must take that help at least. I may have the credit to get you suitable clothes, but we do not have the time.” he kissed down her neck, hungry again for her. “But there is time for other things.” 

She giggled but in protest. “But they are in our chamber.” 

He smiled devilishly and his hand entwined with hers as he pulled her down the hall, both smiling as he pulled her into the study. Shutting the door he pressed her up against the solid core of the heavy door. His breath close to her face. 

Charlotte, exhilarated in the excitement as she felt him press against her panted. His long body trapping her against his, the ridged length pressing hard against her belly. 

“Beds are not the only place one can do this act,” he said as one hand-molded her side with need, while the other pulled up at her dress. She was not wearing pantalets and he pulled the buttons on his trousers easily freeing himself. 

Her breath caught as she felt him lift her and she struggled to pull up her skirts but sooner than expected she felt him clumsily enter her and she moaned in his ear as he groaned in hers. 

The angle allowed her to wrap her legs around his hips and she felt him cling to her and the leverage of the door to thrust deeper. 

One hand held her leg tightly, his fingers pressing into his flesh as he made them one. 

——

Charlotte could not keep her stomach from doing flip flops that evening. 

“You look panicked my dear,” Sidney said taking her gloved hand.

She turned to look out the window to the great building ahead as his lips touched her neck. Her mouth opened in surprise from within the privacy of the carriage and turned to him with a shocked smile. 

“Oh it is just London society so soon,” she whispered as she puddled under his smile as he leaned back down to recapture her with his warm lips. It was so easy to forget the people outside in the carriage and on the street with her husband kissing and touching her so intimately. 

His dark carriage had smaller windows than his brothers which lent itself to more privacy. 

“We will be seated on the floor,” he muttered against her skin. “Worry not. You will not be out of your element.” 

He pulled from her neck just as his hand was taking liberties and he gripped his cane again with a growl and a clench of his jaw with feral gnashing of his teeth. The carriage was coming to a halt. 

Arriving at the steps he exited first and offered her a hand and they rose together the great steps. Entering they milled. He did not see hardly anyone he recognized or knew well past the first introductions.

Charlotte bit her lip nervously. 

“Shall we find our seat?” he asked feeling a little out of his own element not having anyone to introduce her to that would receive her warmly enough. 

Nodding shakily she looked around. She wore the same dress as at the ball a few days before in Sanditon. Although she felt she looked lovely then, it was not nearly as elegant as the many dresses she was surrounded by. 

“Worry not my dear,” he said as he leaned in close. His hand touched her back intimately. “It is said to be an unparalleled opera. I want you to enjoy yourself.” 

Just as they took their seat an usher came to them. 

“The Lady Worcester has invited you to her private box.” the young man said pointing up to the premier location. 

Sidney looked up and around suddenly feeling relieved to have connections there tonight since they came without the accompaniment of his friend Lord Babington. 

Charlotte followed his eyes and she smiled brightly. 

“Seems you bring us luck straight off,” he whispered. “I don’t know how I can be so fortunate” 

He said taking her arm. 

Weaving through the crowd Sidney’s eyes looked up again to the bank of boxes above brightly lit on account of the performance having not yet begun. 

There he found familiar blue eyes. 

Eliza. 

He looked back down to the dark head and focused on his wife. His hand still on the small of her back. Entirely undeterred. 

Coming to the prominent box, Lady Susan remained seated. 

“If it is not the new Mrs. Parker.” she greeted Charlotte warmly. “And Mr. Parker having recently come to his senses I assume and not a boy from her village?” she asked. 

Sidney smiled and nodded. But noting the mention of painful memory. “No, not a boy from Willingden, just a fool from Sanditon I am afraid.” he smiled and ushered his wife inside. 

Charlotte took her friend's hand. “Lady Susan.”

“See did I not tell you the race was not yet run?” Lady Worcester beamed. “And now you have come to London, a place you dislike so.” she shook her head and tisk'ed with a smile. 

Sidney frowned hearing yet again her dislike of the city. He knew it had left a terrible impression on her before but he hoped to change her mind. 

Charlotte leaned in. “More business of Sanditon I am afraid.” she smiled tightly and looked to her husband. “My husband thought I would enjoy the opera.” 

Susan looked at Sidney and nodded. “Ah, I do believe you will. Angelica Cantalani is quite legendary. You will not wish to miss this.” she replied. “I am so glad you are here my dear. I am hosting a rather elaborate banquet this week and a few other delights, and it will be entirely tedious with all the activities and the people invited. I shall very much like it if you and your husband were to attend.” she whispered as the light dimmed. 

Charlotte looked to Sidney who inclined his head in agreement. She could see by the pull of his mouth that he found this notion very agreeable. 

“We should like that very much,” Charlotte answered with a thankful smile. 

“This is Lord Pevensey and Sir Branhers,” Lady Susan Introduced the gentlemen. Lord Pevensey sported a rather substantial mustache, while Sir Branhers had a proud belly. “Mr. Parker I am sure you are acquainted, but Mrs. Parker I believe this may be a first?” she asked. 

Charlotte curtsied. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” 

The two men nodded. “Charming young lady.” Lord Pevensey lifted his spectacles to get a closer look.

“I see you finally have been caught Mr. Parker.” he verbalized. “Once thought an impossible feat. Confirmed bachelor once whispered.” 

Sidney smiled in an unconvincing manner but then turned to Charlotte and it softened around the eyes into something honest. 

“Come, the performance is about to start,” Lady Susan gestured to the open chairs. “Won't you both stay?” she asked. “There is room in my box for two more.” she gestured to the chairs. 

Sidney nodded “Our great pleasure.” he accepted. 

Taking Charlotte’s hand he proudly escorted his wife to the chair closest to her Ladyship. His eyes flashed across the way to his old flame wearing a soft salmon color. Her gaze still lingered in his direction curiously. For all of Eliza’s fortune if could not buy the influence and charm that Charlotte carried in just the little turn of her smile. 

Trying to focus he leaned over he whispered, his lips touching Charlotte’s ear visibly. “Only you could accomplish this,” he said as he settled. 

She blushed and looked at him with her wide, sparkling eyes. “I have done nothing,” she answered with a scarlet blush. 

He shook his head. “Haven’t you, you bewitch, beguile, and charm everyone. And I cant wait to have you to myself again.” he looked at her warmly. 

Charlotte smiled at him with hope in her eyes and then wonder as eyes scanned around the magnificence of the building, then the boxes and found Mrs. Campion was watching her. “Mrs. Campion is here,” she whispered and leaned to her husband.

He blinked and nodded his smile leaving his face. “Oh yes. I supposed she might be. She is in London this season.”

Lady Susan leaned over to Charlotte who had pulled straighter feeling the sharp pain of jealousy and remembered loss anew. 

“Careful my dear.” Lady Susan put her fan up. “You expose your feelings too much,” she warned and looked to her fan. Susan already was aware of Mrs. Campion's near presence. She knew nearly everyone in the room at a glance. 

Charlotte pulled open her fan and covered her face and looked to her friend. 

“Do not let the woman know she is your weakness.” Lady Susan warned. “Remember he is sitting at your side,” she whispered. 

Charlotte swallowed and was handed a glass of champagne. 

The music was starting and the heat in the room was building on account of it being the height of summer. 

“You ready for London to be your home now?” Susan asked her as the music was just starting. 

Charlotte shook her head and sighed. “I am quite overwhelmed by it. I had thought perhaps we would live in Sanditon.” 

Lady Susan looked to Sidney who was now chatting with Lord Pevensey and Sir Branherst. 

“No, this is where the business and influence is. Not to mention the melting pot of ideas. Person of your sharp mind belongs here among the politics of society.” she whispered as the soprano walked on stage. 

Charlotte frowned. “I am just a farmer's daughter from Willingden. What could I have to offer?” she asked. 

The great lady gave her an unimpressed eye. “Don’t tell me Mrs. Campion’s cutting words pierce that exterior. I know you must be made of tougher stuff than that my dear,” she said. 

The first note broke among the crowd and all conversations halted, all fans held momentarily as the note rang out, the strong vibrato moved across the space, reaching every box causing goosebumps to rise and Charlotte lifted her arm. 

Lady Susan smiled as she noted the response of her friend. 

Charlotte then looked to Sidney and he smiled at her reaction. 

But the vibrato was frantic and anxious. Mirroring the emotions she felt. Her eyes glanced to the woman so near. Her rival and she found her eyes flashed her way too. 

Blinking she looked to her husband who leaned into her and she tried to feel him with her and be comforted by that. 

They were supplied copious amounts of bubbly and Charlotte tried to not let Mrs. Campion’s presence intimidate her. Looking down she imagined it might have been better for her down there on the main floor. She would not have known she was being watched. 

Sidney and Charlotte managed to leave the opera house without a clash with the woman, and upon entering the carriage he sought to put the woman from his mind entirely by pulling his wobbly wife to him. 

“Did you enjoy the opera, Charlotte?” he said between passionate kisses that she drunkenly could not quell. 

She giggled. “I did. But not so much under the eye of your previous fiance,” she admitted with a tipsy air. She would have denied it completely if she were stone sober. 

He groaned and his lips pulled from her chin and he leaned his head back. “Yes, her presence was invasive, as were her eyes.” he tucked her hair back. “Worry not,” he touched the bridge of her nose. “I thought nothing else but when I could take you home and pull this dress off you again like I did the first night.” he smoothed out the fabric. “Our wedding night.” he unpinned her hair. 

It dropped and the curls sprung free. 

“I like your hair down.” he weaved his fingers through it. “I will very much enjoy watching it grow longer,” he said. 

She blushed. “But shorter is the fashion.” 

He shook his head. “I don’t bloody care the fashion. My wife will be a fashion of her own.” he noted her breasts and he groaned and banged his cane on the roof. “Faster!” 

“Patience Mr. Parker,” she said as she moved to straddle him in the carriage. “Or is this another situation of beds not being the only place?” her voice was dark and husky. 

He groaned and cursed. “Good grief Charlotte…” he pulled up at her skirts. “Do you have any idea how beastly you are making me?” he asked. Her chest eye level. 

Giggling drunkenly she swayed a little in his arms. 

His hands found her bare thighs and he pulled at his trousers. “I can’t wait.” he shook his head. 

She put both hands on his shoulders and her mouth upon his lips and he pulled her more firmly astride as he bucked upwards in search of her warmth. Finding her he shuddered as he pulled her hard against him and she cried out in his ear. 

The movement of the coach fueled and powered his own to their mutual delight. 

His wife was full of surprises and he was sure he liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning, Sidney's eyes opened lazily, his hand on his wife’s back. His finger played on her bare skin with lingering desire. The memory of the night before playing in his mind making him grow hard again but knew that there was a such thing as too often. 

She moaned as he kissed her shoulder, reluctant to leave their bed but finally went to dress. He decided to forgo a shave for he wanted a leisure coffee and breakfast as he read the paper that morning before he went to make calls. His overnight growth wasn’t too much. 

Seeing her stir he went and stroked her tousled hair. 

“Rest my dearest… Last night must have tired you.” he chuckled. “I shall have breakfast sent up.” he smiled contented as he went to finish dressing. 

She turned over. “I feel as if my head is full of fluff,” she mumbled. 

He turned and faced her. “I do not think you are as accustomed to strong champagne. Though its lusty effect on you is welcome.” the low timbre of his laugh made her groan with shame. 

She buried her face under the covers. “Oh, you speak of your poor wife as such a wanton woman. I should not have…” 

Pulling himself together he sat beside her as he put on his boots. “I am not ashamed of my hot blooded wife. I quite like it.” he smiled to himself as she blushed scarlet under the sheet.

He was elated to have such an eager wife. First, his study against the door, then the carriage and again their bed. 

She had known more of him than many wives upon their marriage. She knew that he had desires as any red-blooded man did. Knowlege of his sordid past in certain houses of pleasure and she saw past that and accepted him. 

But he had not expected this…hunger, and he was more than gratified to find she did as well. 

With her as his wife, he would never again feel the need to patron such an establishment as they had the misfortune to stop at in their quest for Georgiana. He had in fact been made a nice man after all… 

Thinking again of Lady Worcester he looked at his wife still hiding from him. 

“Quite the luck had last night being invited to Lady Worcesters private box and in full view of the entire Beau Monde. You are well on your way to being very popular in London my dear,” he said pulling the sheet from her. 

Her hand covered her eyes from the harsh sun. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

She turned, delighting him with a peek of her pert nipple, and leaned down to kiss the side of her breast. 

“Luring me back into bed?” he asked feeling hungry again. 

She blushed and bit her lip but shook her head. “My head hurts.” she groaned. 

His hand moved to stroke her side under the thin covering. “You are unused to so much Champagne. Drink something, and perhaps eat just a little. And next time,” he smiled mischievously, “be more careful.” he chuckled. “It can be a lot worse than this.”

“Why are you not so bothered?” she asked. “Did you not have the same?” 

He smiled tenderly at her. “For me, that was not an over indulgence. I have not, not since you,” he whispered with a chuckle as he leaned over her, a warm and happy smile on his face. 

Charlotte felt the tenderness that hung on those words but he did not say anything else. His eyes just held hers a long moment and she was sure for a moment that he wanted to say something. But the moment passed.

Looking away as if he had lost the nerve he smiled again but forced. 

“So, tonight I thought we could view an exhibit, and perhaps walk the park after my calls unless we have a better offer to dine.” he offered. 

She sighed. “I am interested in going out for a walk, Mr. Parker,” she said. “But I have no wish for an exhibit, or to dine out. I am just growing acquainted with the house I am supposed to call my home. I haven’t even had a proper dinner in it.” 

He smiled and nodded. “No, I quite agree. Being a bachelor, I often avoid eating at home. It reminds me how lonely my existence has been, but now…” he smiled. “No, I suppose now, there will be more meals at home, won't there?” 

Charlotte nodded. “It is my hope.” she looked at it. “After all, it is a home, is it not?” she asked. 

He grunted reflectively. “I suppose it is. Though it never really felt like one,” he admitted. “When my father was alive I was away at school. I hardly remember this place or many family meals here.” he reflected. “I suppose that will change.” 

She nodded. “Tonight can we? Do you have a preference Mr. Parker?” she asked. 

He laughed and then looked away from her frustrated and she frowned. 

“What is it?” she had sensed it. 

He shook his head. “Sidney, you hardly call me Sidney.” he reached for her hand and stroked it. 

Blushing she shook her head. “It still feels somehow improper.” 

He looked down somewhat disappointed with her answer. “I am your husband,” 

She nodded. “Yes, but I suppose I am still getting used to all that.” 

“Well then Mrs. Parker,” he tried to smile, his eyes hesitated in their rise to her face. “You chose.” he nodded. “I do at times have a sensitive stomach with the red meats, though I think it relates more to what I am drinking at the time,” he said as he turned, his profile to her. “Rest my dear, nothing pressing awaits you at the moment. I shall have a maid bring you something. Then later we can go have a late afternoon walk and hopefully attempt to improve your impressions towards this city.”

She sat up. Her waves teasing her shoulders. “It has already left a different impression altogether. Though I do confess it does not feel like home, that would take some time. Sanditon had started to feel like that.” she winced as she struggled to articulate her emotion. “But I feel as if I would betray Sanditon if I liked London.” 

He laughed. “Well I hate to be a controlling husband, but it simply is where we must live primarily.” he shrugged. “But later, when the financing is on stable footing we may be able to afford apartments there too,” he said standing. “Perhaps it is where you will take the children as the season turns favorable, and I will join you when business allows.” 

Somehow Sidney’s attitude on not being around their children for long spans hit her like a slap. 

“You mean you would be alright with me and our children being from you for weeks on end?” she asked. 

He turned and cocked his head. “It is how many families conduct themselves here. Vast country estates for the wife and children, but the husbands have business while going home seasonally and on long weekends,” he said with a nonchalance that he had not thought overly on. 

She sat up suddenly not interested in sleep. Her head hurt and now his words pierced her in ways she was unprepared for.

“We have years my dear.” he kissed her stiffly. “Don’t fret, we must first solve this issue of Sanditon or I will be leaving you for farther-flung lands than a days carriage ride.” he tried not to communicate how much that thought affected him, or how gravely likely that fate was.

“To work in the slave or spice trade? You know my feelings on that?” she asked. Her eyes sparked fire.

His own darkened and he looked down before he turned but said nothing, he just gave her a cryptic look reminding her what a conundrum her husband was. 

Charlotte watched the door close and tears came to her eyes. She had upset him and further he had upset her. 

Before she could go after him and try to soothe the hurt feelings the maid came in with a tray with a light breakfast and tea. 

Getting up from the bed she handled her intimacies and then washed herself trying to decide if she was angry or apologetic. She wasn’t sure herself. 

Her flesh was tender and she winced as she finished as she recalled the passions they had shared the night and day before. How easily he could hurt her. Her love for him was an affliction. 

Taking a few bites of the porridge and bread filled the void and she took her teacup to the bed and a book to see if lounging in bed was to her taste deciding she was not ready to face her husband after such unguarded words. 

Normally she was up early with the dawn with a hunt on her farm or egg collecting. In Sanditon it was a morning swim or a cliff walk. In London after an energetic night of love-making, it was tea in bed. She only wished her husband delighted in it with her. 

Instead, he spoke of a day not all that far off in her mind where she would live hours from him and he from her. He would be here doing god knows what, perhaps even with who knows with…

Her mind flashed to the lights and interior of the boarding house she had gone into. He was known there. 

Was he going to continue going to go to those kinds of places? Especially when she was away with their children? That was why husbands wanted their wives from them, did they not? 

She was not too naive to miss that. 

No, he had kissed her with such need… surely there was something more to their coupling than he could find there. 

She wiped at her eye as she felt her insecurities bubble up.

——

For the day starting so well, Sidney was in a mood, smoking frustratedly at the breakfast table, eating a very late meal when a caller came.

Though it was a late breakfast, it was early for calls. 

“Mrs. Campion.” he stood, placing his napkin aside. “I had not-“ he looked at the clock.

“The hour is early. But I found myself out trying to occupy myself to no avail.” she looked around. 

He just stood, looking confused at her sudden presence wearing a perry winkle blue dress. 

“Apologies Sidney,” she clasped her gloved hands. “I am very glad to find you alone, though a might bit surprised…” she smiled looking about. The sparkle coming to her eye. 

Sidney did not provide an excuse as to Charlotte’s absence. He did not need to explain her whereabouts. 

Eliza continued to speak when he did not. “We did not leave on the best of terms, now did we back in Sanditon?” her voice was warm as she looked back at him. Her wide blue eyes batting invitingly. 

Sidney’s eyes narrowed. He had thought they had parted for good back in Sanditon. It was a perfectly suitable and respectable departure considering the history. 

“I uh, I was just finished having breakfast.” he tamped his smoke out politely having just recalled it was still lit and the cherry still burning. “Join me in the parlor, I think this conversation is better suited there,” he said knowing it to be better insulated from carrying voices.

Eliza shook her head. “Would you not like me to join you here?” she asked. “One should not eat their breakfast alone.” 

He cleared his throat. “No. Uh, I was just finishing.” 

She smiled. “But you have hardly touched your plate.” she protested. “It will grow cold.”

Sidney smiled more of a grimace. 

“Mrs. Campion, what brings you here?” he said trying to get to the point, still not asking her to join him and realizing he sounded rude but not exactly caring at that juncture. He was married, and his history with Eliza was but a painful and often embarrassing memory to him now. 

Coming around to him she sat. “To the point,” she said tartly. Her attitude souring slightly. 

He sighed and smiled stiffly as he grudgingly sat back down to his seat but put his plate aside. 

“Sidney, I realized I never apologized for the way I treated you.” she carefully said. “I merely wish to come to make amends.”

He shook his head not following. “There is nothing to make amends for,” he said. “It is ancient history. Like I said in Sanditon, I at least am not the same man I once was.”

Some emotion ghosted across her face but left almost as quickly as it came, again to be met by her usual expression. 

She smiled and looked at him as if he were the same young man he used to be. 

“Come now, Sidney. It is obvious now what foolish things I said at the regatta. I came there under false pretenses.” she said pale-faced, obviously bruised over the false hopes she had. 

He was silent as he listened not entirely understanding the motivation for such a visit. 

“I can't be entirely to blame for the things said…” she swallowed and tried to again regain her composure and then finally smiled. “Now that it is public knowledge that you married that country girl and were married to her then. Charlotte Heyworth, her name was it?” she blinked as if it were utterly shocking. 

“Heywood,” he corrected with a sigh not wishing to discuss the intimacies or grounds of his marriage with her. 

She nodded. “Heywood.” she closed her eyes as if to correct herself though she knowingly mistook her name. “My jokes were quite in poor taste, all facts now considering. Though I did not know it then,”

Sidney felt his mood which was already on edge before Eliza’s arrival, sharpen to a point he was afraid to nick himself upon it. 

“I was quite rude I suppose to the little thing now considering the information I did not know. I wish to make my amends to you,” she said finally. 

Sidney felt rage rise on behalf of his wife and wanted her to make amends to her but he did not wish to demand such from Mrs. Campion. 

It was he who owed Charlotte any apology in truth. He had approached Eliza at the London ball after dancing with Charlotte and in truth falling in love with her but being confused he had lost his way and gotten Tom’s hopes up by that interaction. He and he alone had been the cause of that confusion and the pains his wife and even Eliza had endured. 

“Mrs. Campion, none are necessary on my account. My brother Tom had hoped you and I would rekindle things and was not aware of my marriage at that time. I only announced it days ago.” he said. 

She frowned. “I don’t understand the delay.” 

He smiled. “There were other pressing drama’s, and my wife wished time to know me better. It was not a traditional elopement.” 

Eliza laughed. “Elopements are never traditional. And why would she need time?” her tone like music. “I can’t imagine she needed any time. Once she had you I am sure she knew exactly what she had.” 

Sidney did not like the leaning the conversation had taken and scratched his chin. “What is this about Mrs. Campion? Surely this is not just about amends and the conditions of how my marriage began,” he stated. 

Her smile caught him off guard and he frowned. 

“It is about many things my dearest Sidney,” she said with a syrupy tone that chilled him. 

He wanted to reach for his coffee but then he would have had to offer her some. 

“It is circulating that the building is suddenly stopped in Sanditon,” Eliza said with a quirked brow. “The question on those in the know, is why? Far more cutthroat investors are wondering if there is an opportunity to swoop in, buy cheap. Whispers already flutter that the Parker brothers and their investors are bankrupt. But they want to know who they all are.” 

Sidney swallowed feeling the pressure and the walls of gossip closing in. It had not even been a full two days in London. He had not even imagined that being an issue yet. 

She did not await his answer.

“If you wish to part friends I just feel we should really and truly part as such. Do you not agree?” she sighed and gave him her card. “Come and see me.” she smiled invitingly. “I would very much like it before it is too late…” her smile looked too sweet. “Before tongues wag to the point of no resolution for your own preservation my dear Sidney.” 

Sidney frowned as he tried to process the proposition. She had not said anything more. His head cocked to the side as he watched the woman leave. 

Going to the foyer he went upstairs to his wife to assure himself she had not known of the woman's presence in the house.

Opening the door he found her sitting on the bed curled up with tears in her eyes. 

Seeing the trails down her face he worried that she had known of Mrs. Campion visit but then he recalled her words to him and his own potentially thoughtless comments about living apart from her before he left. 

“Charlotte?” he asked. 

Turning from him she shook her head. 

“I am clumsy with my words,” he said simply. “if you are anything like you are now, I will not be able to bear even a night from you,” he said coming to the side of the bed where she was curled up. “Come, how is your head?” he asked. 

Closing her eyes she winced. 

“Did you drink any tea?” he asked, “Eat anything?” 

She nodded. “Only a little.” she winced as her belly cramped and she thought her woman’s time was also likely upon her, or nearly so. Perhaps that was why the tears. 

“Well, you need to drink a little more,” he touched her cheek. “Fluids and fresh air is the best cure for a morning after.” he smiled now, apologetic. Even more so after such a visitor. 

She sighed and moved to the opposite side of the bed and opened the wardrobe. 

“Have you written your father?” he asked. 

She turned. “I wouldn’t know where to start,” she said irritably. Not in any way mollified by his attempts at smoothing things over between them yet. Even less so now that her family had been brought up. 

“They do not even know you are in London.” he scoffed. Between their conversation earlier, Eliza downstairs, and now her admitting that her parents still did not know of their marriage he was about to explode with anger. 

He stood and paced frustrated and put his hands on his hips and tried to calm himself. “Know where to start…?” he reiterated. “Charlotte?” 

She closed her eyes. “I am supposed to write to my father and say that I eloped?” she felt tears spring into her eyes. 

Sidney ran his hand down his face and closed his eyes channeling all the power to calm himself.

“I will write to him,” he said and went to the door but she rushed to it. 

“No, I can do it. Just give me another day or two to figure out how to tell them,” she begged. 

He shook his head. “How long has it been since they heard from you?” 

She winced. “Over a week, but they knew the regatta would be taking up so much of my time.” 

He shook his head. “But the regatta is over. Surely they would have expected news!” he said shocked. “they could come looking for you and perhaps find out themselves by inquiring in Sanditon. Is that how you want them to find out?” he felt his barely tethered rage bubble and rise but he tamped it down and put a light hand on her arm. 

She opened her mouth knowing he was right but also proudly wishing she was not wrong. 

“Charlotte, don’t take too much more time. I don’t want an angry father to show up here,” he said. “Facing your father just might prove to be too much for me. Not if he raised a spirited woman like you,” he said trying to smooth their heated interaction. 

She nodded. “I just hoped we would get lucky and manage this soon and then visit Willingden ourselves.” her eyes again pooled with emotion. 

He touched her cheek sadly. “Charlotte…” his eyes sad. “I am not sure we can manage this at all without reducing myself to some sort of low form of conduct you would not approve of.” he thought of Eliza and her odd warning and offer downstairs. 

She furrowed her brow at that confession.

“I am sorry about what I said earlier,” she said feeling dizzy. “I just feel so wretched when I imagine you working with slaves again, or in a trade that relies on such labor.” 

He nodded and sighed. “My dear, it is important to have such values, but today it is hard to live such a perfectly untainted life. The sugar we English consume comes from slavery, the tea from the orient, and the spices from Indian, what we do there is horrific as well. The fabric you wear is also not without the stain of human hardship.” He shook his head. “My dear, we must do what we must to help those we care about. The people of Sanditon will eat better if they have a way to bring people to their small little fish mongering town. We do what we can where we have power too.” 

Charlotte looked up at him and he could see some of the anger fading from her eyes. 

“Promise me you will write the letter?” he asked her. 

She nodded and he pulled her into his arms. His mouth fastened over hers in earnest to erase the harsh emotions of the morning. She clung to him but he could still feel her trembling under him and tears against her cheek and his thumb tried to wipe them away. 

“Come, let us go for a stroll around your new neighborhood.” His hand was in her hair as he tried to evoke a smile which did not readily come.

——

Two days of disappointment and doors shut in his face and largely disappointing evenings. If he had the luxury of gambling he might have been able to make some progress but he was not about to risk losing even a cent of what funds he had. Especially not after the loud rants from Lady Denham the day the left Sanditon. 

He was frustrated because he now only had about two weeks left and he was nowhere closer. And with the paying of the half wages of the laborers and the reserves for the furnishings he was further from the goal than he was before. 

Down in the parlor he awaited Charlotte so that he would not molest her as she prepared. He found he could not keep his hands off her as she dressed so he took to granting her space to finish. Taking a drink he reflected on the evening he awaited her for their last ball in London. The one just a week after they had been married. 

He had almost thought he had married a fresh young girl but a mature and desirable ripe woman met him and stole his breath in a moment. 

Not blind to her attractive qualities before their marriage he knew she was beautiful, he just had not seen her in that light before. And it had struck him. 

Tonight was no different. He had just thrown back his drink and turned when his eyes fell on a vision in burgundy red. The swells of her breasts beckoned him as she took her breaths. Her delicate neck made his mouth long to kiss. 

The glass fell from his hands and shattered on the stone before the fireplace. 

“I take it I look well?” she asked as she bit her lip. 

He smiled, his head dropped sheepishly, still unable to form words.

Eliza had been beautiful as well in their youth, but he had never been entirely tongue-tied, and breathless around her. And this woman, his wife… He did not know how to tell her how she made him feel. 

“You are incomparable,” he said with softness as he took her hand in his. “I hadn’t..” He held it a moment and his eyes locked with hers as his throat tightened and words ceased. Pulling her to him he just captured her mouth when the inability to express himself came to a brick wall. He instead tried to show her physically, but with shaking restraint pulled himself from her as he tried not to ravish her on the spot. 

“Come, we will be late,” he said, his voice had become like gravel. 

She blushed and nodded as she checked herself in the mirror finding her cheeks prettily flushed. 

The banquet was vast, and the table very long. He found himself a little nervous at the attention Charlotte received from the other men. When in the upper tiers of society the status of marriage did not preclude flirtations and even discreet affairs. 

She was a far more striking woman beside him than he could have imagined when he first met her along the cliffs. He had seen she was attractive and was to his initial shame interested from the first sight, but there had been something earthy and wholesome about her then. Now she seemed worldly and competent. And universally desirable. Others saw that as well…

His dark red rose tonight. 

Her witty remarks shined brightly amongst the elevated company. 

Eliza, who seated not all that far was once thought witty but acted quietly that night as she observed. Seemingly outshone. She did not even seem to try to compete which did surprise him. He had feared with her presence that she would try to cut her socially again. 

He would not have even glanced at Eliza if not for that surprise visit to his home a few mornings before. If not for that he would not have been concerned. He only had eyes for his wife but they were pulled anxiously from her from time to time to Eliza’s penetrating blue ones which watched him and her with an unrelenting air. 

Lady Susan pulled Charlotte away from him after the meal and left the gentlemen at the table which was the custom. Eliza stayed a moment to have witty banter. Her being single left her with a group of other single women at the table. 

“You have newly married Mr. Parker.” Came a Lord's voice. “Fancy that, I had you for a confirmed bachelor.” 

Sidney nodded and smiled. “Yes,” he tried to not look at Eliza as the mention of his marriage was made. “When compared to my Charlotte bachelorhood is overrated.” 

“Is it?” one asked drunkenly. “But she is a lovely rose is she not?” he said. 

Sidney smiled and nodded having thought the same himself earlier. 

“Enjoying married life that much?” Eliza asked. 

Sidney looked at her and his jaw clenched. “Yes, it is nothing as I imagined, and more than I ever dreamed,” he told her with an impassioned nod. 

The woman’s face seemed to pinch inward. 

Some of the ladies at the table knew their history and sniggered and Eliza paled but she just steeled herself and went silent as the gentlemen offered their input that to find a good wife was rare, and it seemed he did not marry for money so it was for love and attraction as a round of hammers on the tables thrummed and toasts offered.

Sidney laughed with them but soon excused himself in favor of finding ‘his Rose’ and they all toasted again amidst toasts. 

He preferred not to converse about his married life in front of his former fiance. He did not expect her to follow him. 

In the hall, he was turned by a shutting door. 

“You poor man.” she scoffed. “Married for love, but on the verge of financial ruin.” her voice stopped him in the hall. 

Turning, his breath held. 

“I could have mentioned that at the table, but I thought that was still a secret,” she said walking up to him. 

Breathing deeply now Sidney shook his head. “What do you want?” 

She shrugged and looked him down. “Well, I thought you would come to me, at least by now?” she blinked. 

He frowned. “You?” he asked. 

Blue eyes batting, Eliza nodded. “Yes, why haven’t you?” she asked.

He took a deep breath. “Why do you think?” a coil of anxiety washed over him. All sorts of warning bells clanged in his head, but he only had another two and a half weeks to accomplish this, perhaps this was the answer. 

She smiled and put her arm in his. “Perhaps we should talk?” she asked. 

He looked down the hall unsure. Fear engulfed him, worried he would be seen by Charlotte and cause her unnecessary concern. 

“Perhaps we could talk at business hours, in my office with your representative present if you offer in earnest?” he tried. 

She smiled and her brow furrowed. “You are running out of time. The investors of the project will be known soon, and they will have offers to sell their investment at a loss. And you have enemies in London Sidney. They want to see you brought low.”

He frowned at her sudden ominous frankness. “What enemies?” he asked. “What are you talking of?” 

“Let us take a turn about the terrace and you tell me what it is you wish me to help with?” she batted her eyes. “and how much may be required. It may take me some time to move some money around but I am sure I can do something for you to mitigate this disaster in the making.” 

He strained his ear hearing the women in the large drawing-room, and the piano was playing delicately, while the men were toasting jovially in the dining room. 

Sidney weighed the options in his mind and then turned and offered her arm all the while trying to hide his discomfort at the task. 

“Who are these enemies you speak of?” he asked. 

She looked ahead impassively. “I can't name names, but you know them from some of your more shadier entertainments.” she glanced at him and batted her eyes. 

He felt his mind turning as he wondered what she knew about his entertainments. 

“Now, tell me what it is that is holding up the building and would have your investors nervous and wanting to sell at a loss?” she asked directly. 

He cleared his throat. “My brother did not buy insurance.” 

She scoffed. “Is that all? Well, the cost of insurance is very high indeed, you must not have the capital yourself.” 

He nodded and did not see the eyes that followed from the sheer curtains. 

——

Charlotte felt her knees grow weak as she saw the shadow of her husband and another familiar figure move past. 

The lump in her throat formed and her heart constricted violently but like Lady Susan taught her she pulled up her fan and just breathe behind it. 

No one mercifully notices. Not even her husband. He seemed preoccupied himself as he looked out the window on the carriage ride home. Not as warm or tender as he had been when they arrived that night. He seemed to like the color red on her as they left but took no notice of it on her now. 

She felt the tears burn but she was growing more practiced at hiding them. She wasn’t sure what was said between Eliza and him but one thing she wasn’t sure of was if her husband even loved her. He still seemed to be pulled to that woman. And now she had watched them walk together alone, where they thought no one could see. 

Wiping an errant tear she looked out and silently wished she had refused him a week before. It would have been the right thing. Her reputation would not have been ruined, and her heart would have been bruised but it would not have been crushed.

It was too late. 

Arriving he escorted her inside but only to the foyer.

“You go on to bed my dear, I am going to see if Babington is at the club now at this hour, and Crowe. I have not met up with them together since I returned and they might have some ideas for how to drum up business,” he said and instead of kissing her on the lips he only pecked her on the cheek. 

His eyes looked guilty and guarded and she just looked up at him sadly as he avoided her gaze. 

“I will be in very late,” he said. “You looked lovely…Have a good night,” he said and turned back around.

Charlotte felt numb as she went up to prepare to sleep. It was the first night she had to undress herself.

Going up she pulled on one of the beautiful lace nightgowns given to her from the haul Sidney had gotten from Lord Babington’s sister and she pulled down her hair. 

As she looked into her mirror all she saw was a terribly sad girl who had woken very happily. 

How easy it was for a man to dash all that away.

The old maid came in. “I took the liberty of bringing you a nice warm buttered toddy,” she said laying the cup and saucer down. “I made it right strong for ye.” she smiled warmly. “I can tell it was a night for you.” she rubbed at her back. 

Charlotte nodded. “Thank you.” she reached for it. “I think it will do very nicely.” 

The woman picked up the room and put it to rights. “Anything else for you ma’am?” she asked. 

Charlotte shook her head. Tears were gathering again. “thank you.” 

“How about some soft boiled eggs for breakfast, and biscuits with honey or preserves?.” she said going for the door. 

Charlotte smiled. “Both are very nice.” 

“You have a goodnight ma’am.” the maid said with a smile.

——

“Trouble in paradise.” Mr. Crowe said dealing Sidney in. Not high stakes. Just a friendly game. 

Sidney shook his head. “Just an invasion of an insect,” he said. “Eliza.” 

Mr. Crowe frowned. “At the banquet?” he asked. “Oh, I suppose I should have gone.” 

Sidney sighed. “And before. She came to my house.” 

Babington put down his drink. “Good god, was Charlotte there?” he asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Upstairs, in bed resting from a long night.”

Crowe smiled, as did Babington. 

“Good man.” Babington cheered him.

“I would have thought you would have wanted your house in order before you brought children into it,” Crowe said laying his card down. “You were always sensible when it came to family matters. I am sure you can control yourself when you put your mind to it.”

Sidney scratched at his temple. “Yes, that is the ideal situation, but I am…” his mouth smiled. 

“You are smitten with your new wife,” Babington said putting his card down with a wry smile knowing personally that Sidney was in love with his wife. 

Nodding with a smile he looked down in thought. He had mostly only been thinking of keeping his brother out of debtors prison, and himself out of having to leave Charlotte, but now he feared leaving her and a child, and that likely hood stood more sharply before him. 

Crowe laughed. “Then I suppose soon we shall be again congratulating you.” he lifted his glass. 

Sidney cursed. “Fatherhood. I would much prefer to be here for it, rather than abroad,” he muttered looking at his disappointing cards reflecting his own disappointing lot he had been dealt in Tom’s actions and then his own in not just blundering through with the grand opening and hope it did not all burn down around his ears. 

He did not lift his glass to toast. “Mrs. Campion might be the solution…” he sighed as he pulled a card out and laid it down. “Unfortunately.” 

Crowe shook his head. “No, that woman is going to try to mess up whatever good you have. Don’t be a fool Sidney.” he pointed seriously. It was early yet and he was sober, so there was sense still to be had. 

Babington folded his. “Come now Sidney, there are other paths.” 

Sidney looked at him frustrated and smoked hard from his cigarette holder, biting it with a wave of feral anger. “Name one. I have little more than two weeks.” 

Babington nodded. “I just had word I have a cousin, not familiar with the venture newly come back from India,” his voice was bright. “Rich. He may be interested.” 

Sidney shook his head. “You know I don’t believe in this project anymore. I can't have your family entangled. I respect them too much. It is going to be a loss.” he leaned back frustrated. 

His friends were silent and allowed him a moment to brood. 

“I am just trying to keep the Parker name out of the gutter, and my brother and myself out of debtors prison. But I hear from Mrs. Campion that there are already whispers that the venture is falling apart and I have enemies in London who want to see the Parker name brought low.” He cursed. “And now Charlotte… She would suffer too.” 

Crowe frowned. “Enemies?” 

Sidney nodded. “It could be true. Though I don’t have any notion as to how she would know anything about it.” 

“Forget about Mrs. Campion and this talk of enemies. My cousin Phillip is a boobie. He would think it a lark if he could just enjoy himself.” Babington tried to encourage him. “Come and meet him. Leave Charlotte here, and let her settle in. He is not the sort of company you want her around anyway.” 

Crowe shrugged. “An investor is just what you need to get you back on solid ground. You and your Mrs. Parker can get back to your fun and the making of heirs when all is settled.” 

Sidney took a bracing breath as he thought about it. “Where is your cousin?” he asked. 

Lord Babington smiled. “Just outside of London at an estate in Hampshire. I was just going to visit and invite his family to the wedding in Sanditon. Perhaps we could make a short hunting trip of it. That is what you can tell Charlotte and put her mind at ease and tell her we may have an investor.” 

Sidney sighed. “Seems a good idea if it ends with something. She could attend Lady Susan's events and do what she can here. She can be quite resourceful herself. ” he thought. “It would help if I had a companion for her.” 

“Is not Lady Susan companion enough?” Mr. Crowe asked. “Damn near took her under her wing by the looks of it to me,” he said taking the meager winnings. 

Sidney nodded. “Though wildly influential, the woman is not like Charlotte. She is far more worldly. And experienced…”

Crowe laughed. “Are you afraid the woman will set your sweet Charlotte astray?” 

Taking a sharp inhale Sidney played his card and glared at him. 

“You could go to her ladyship instead and see if she would help?” they tried. 

He shook his head. “Don’t you understand? I can't go to anyone I would wish to ever do business with in the future.” Sidney said frustrated. “I would almost do better to sell my flesh or enter a boxing match. I would get more money faster, but it still would never be enough.” he cursed. 

His friends both looked at him pityingly. 

“I could sell my warehouse…but then I would have nothing to work from and it still would not be enough. If I had a year I could do it…Perhaps even six months” he lamented. “Ten thousand a year is not that difficult to manage when you have months to accomplish it.”

“Don’t do any of that.” Lord Babington said. “Just come hunting, and attempt to convince my cousin of the merits of Sanditon. He has the money, I know it. And he may have others with him keen on some speculation.” 

Sidney looked down pensively and nodded. “Fine, but it fills me with dread to feel like I am scamming anyone who you hold a connection to.” he sighed. “But, It will do me good to have another option that does not entangle me with Mrs. Campion.”

Lord Babington nodded in agreement while Crowe just chuckled and nodded. “Why the woman persists is baffling I must say,” he said shuffling the cards. “I will say this, it does not seem Mrs. Campion likes to lose.” 

Sidney frowned. “Lose? What has she lost?” he took a long drag on his smoke.

Crowe dealt them out and paused. “Face?” he said simply. “She came to Sanditon and all but asked for your hand, and you rebuffed her. Mrs. Eliza Campion is not the type to be refused anything, do you not remember Sidney?” 

Reaching for the bottle he drank from it deeply until the room became foggy. “Oh, I remember. I never forgot,” he said finally with a feral wince. “There was once a time I found it…appealing…” he said coldly. 

A clap on his back pulled him from those dark thoughts and he lifted the bottle again to his lips. 

“You have your Charlotte now.” Lord Babington said. 

Crowe nodded. “Yes indeed.” He laughed and lifted a glass. “To Charlotte who has far more merit.” 

Sidney lifted his bottle and nodded. “Yes, to my wife, a woman who deserves far better than me,” he said with drunken self-loathing. 

Both men looked to the other with serious glances but Sidney was now guzzling the bottle empty and before he was finished he was ordering another with the slap of his hand. 

——  
Sidney returned to Bradford Place with the help of both of his friends. The door to their bed chamber opened with a creak and he cursed. 

Deep enough in his cups to stumble but not too much to fall, he wobbled to the bed. Finding the post he also managed to startle her awake. 

“Sidney?” she gasped. 

He laughed. “Oh so you can call me by my Christian name, but only when roused from sleep.” he slurred with some irritation. "Eliza still calls me Sidney." 

“You are drunk.” she accused now with venom. 

The room was dim but there was small light from the street lamps that burned outside. She had no fire in the grate. 

“I am drunk Mrs. Parker. I wasn’t complaining the other night when you were not entirely sober yourself,” he said coldly. “That is one of the things you do in a gentleman's club. Drink, and talk about problems, and how to solve them.” 

She sat up in the shadows. “Is it at all like that boarding house?” her tone was accusational. 

He turned and shook his head. “No, it is not like that at all. It is more like a gambling room filled with miserable men and smoky air and no women. They go thereafter.” 

She sniffed. “Miserable men? And you fit that criteria?” she asked, her heart now fully sunk.

He laughed then. “Yes, this Sanditon debt is an albatross about my neck, and I can't be rid of it.” he shook his head. 

Charlotte felt this sinking feeling in her stomach as she thought of how she had guilted him into helping his brother weeks before. How it was actually her that was the anchor or ill portended bird wrapped around his neck. 

“So you were not able to fix the problem.” she verbalized with a sadness she felt tight in her throat. 

He shook his head. “No.” he pulled his vest off clumsily and threw it. 

Charlotte startled at his sudden violent act. 

“I was thinking about going on a hunting sojourn to the country with Babington.” he panted. “He has a family he wants to invite to the wedding. One, in particular, his cousin is vastly wealthy and newly returned from India. Babers claims he is an idiot for a good time…” he said kicking off his boots with an uncoordinated air. “If I go I would want you to stay here and see what you can do with Lady Susan to drum up interest.” he then leaned over drunkenly but she just pulled from him. “Just an idea if the ball tomorrow does not yield anything.” 

“You smell of vomit,” she said with disgust as well as a shared view of the idea of preying on a man her husband claimed to be an idiot. It did not seem honorable. 

He frowned and nodded. “I might have…” he hesitated to breathe. “I might have drunk too much tonight…” His tone sounded sharp and she felt it in her gut. “Apologies, Mrs. Parker. I did warn you about such things.” He groaned. “Don’t worry, I’ll not touch you… Can’t get you with child,” he muttered with irritation. 

With that, he collapsed half-dressed on his side of the bed and left her alone. Charlotte felt the knife twist as he said those final words to her about not getting her with child. She still did not understand half of what he had told her about someone from India and hunting. But enough to know that he regretted much and she felt at fault for most and now he did not wish her to become pregnant. 

Rising from the bed she sat and her finger thumbed the ring on her finger. Barely there a week and she wished it all undone now. 

“Get back abed wife,” he mumbled. 

She did not answer. Instead, she wiped another errant tear from her eye and curled herself up on the chair in the corner.

First his private conversation with Eliza and now he said he would not touch her for fear of getting her with child. 

Her hand touched her stomach and shook her head. Scarcely a week they had been of one flesh. 

She had made a horrible mistake. 

——

Sidney woke with a blinding headache and reached for the other side of the bed and found it empty. 

“Charlotte?” he asked and turned. 

The room empty he found her robe and nightdress thrown on the chair by the mirror. 

Rising from the bed he sighed feeling the ill effect of the activities the night before he surveyed his state of dress and found himself satisfied that he did not molest his wife. At least not that he recalled. 

Splashing his face with cold water he winced as he realized he never remembered coming home. 

Stumbling downstairs he found the breakfast table still laid but a plate was left eaten from and empty. As if just left shortly before because the maid was just now fetching to whisk it off. 

“You just missed her,” she said. 

Sidney looked about and went to the window to see if he could see her. 

“Where did she go?” he asked. 

Taking the plate the woman shook her head. “She did not say, Mr. Parker. Seemed rather upset though, poor thing,” she muttered lastly. 

Sidney shook his head. “Rather upset, do you know about what?” he asked. 

The woman shook her head. “I have no notion. I imagine you would have a better idea,” she said and looked him up. “Enjoy your breakfast, Mr. Parker.” 

He rubbed down his face and put one hand on his hip. They had things to discuss, he had not expected her to just runoff.

Eating alone he tried to remain calm for thee quarters of an hour, but at that point, he started getting agitated. 

“Are you sure she did not say she was going someplace?” he asked as he rifled through papers, and calling cards. 

There did not seem to be any hints at where she went. 

——

Charlotte felt foolish well into four hours from the Bradford House. She had wanted to pack her things that morning and leave but he was asleep in the room with her and she could not accomplish that. 

Kicking a pebble she wanted to curse as she followed her frustrated feet back home. Her legs tired, her feet hurt. She did not know London well and she was sure at this point she was lost. 

Coming to a familiar corner she knew she had been through there before thrice before. Which was why she was so turned around. 

“Charlotte!” came a shout and she turned to fund her thunderously angry husband striding with purpose right at her. She nearly wanted to run, but where to. It was not like she had anywhere to run to. 

“Where have you been?” he shouted as if to an errant child. 

Her eyes may have welled up with emotional tears but her breast burst with angry fire. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that Mr. Parker.” she wanted to slap him but she knew that would be unseemly. “I have already endured enough.” she gasped and moved past him. “I would have already been back by now but I was lost,” she said. “It is this way, is it not?” she asked. 

“Endured?” he asked suddenly concerned something dreadful happened. “Charlotte, are you alright?” he asked. 

She shook her head. “Don’t,” she looked at him tearfully. “Come, we have that ball to prepare for, do we not?” 

He felt an odd sense as the anger had all but drained from him and concern was all that remained. 

He went to reach for her. “Charlotte, are you quite well?” 

She pulled from him and kept walking as she actively ignored his questions. 

——

Sidney felt something was terribly off as she dressed and shifted from his touches as she prepared herself. He had wanted to make love to her, to apologize for his anger in the streets but she seemed disgusted by his attempts at intimacies. And at this point, he was more than confused. 

She would say nothing as to why she was so angry and would give him no pennies for her thoughts. 

“What is it?” he asked. “Is it your time?” thinking her woman’s time had struck.

She cleared her throat and just closed her eyes, he took that as a yes. He wondered if that could explain her strange behavior. 

“The ball tonight, Mr. Crowe and Lord Babington will come?” she asked as she changed the subject. Unable to voice her contempt at him. Her utter disgust at his touch of her at the moment. Of her desirous reaction when he did so when she hated him so much at that moment. 

It was in these angry seconds that she did not understand love at all. 

Sidney nodded. “It is a popular event. I do believe they will come.” 

Her hair was elaborately pulled up. The younger maid Maud seemed adept at the hair and he was glad to have employed her shortly before marrying because she was becoming useful as a ladies maid. 

His wife’s ivory satin dress was lovely in itself and had a fashionable frilled collar, but she also had a dramatic overcoat in olive green silk taffeta that complimented her hair and coloring perfectly. 

“You look so lovely my dear,” he whispered and again tried to lean down to kiss her neck. 

She pulled from him with tears in her eyes and his lips hovered above her skin confused. 

“My dearest Charlotte, what is it?” he begged. “I know something has shifted and I must understand.” 

She wiped at a tear. “You have other things to focus on,” she said and turned. “Come, we should not be late. Lady Susan wished me there early to stand with her to greet everyone.” 

He blinked surprised. Such an honorable position would give her the chance to meet everyone and in the future the ability to approach anyone without an introduction first. All would have been made and from the highest places. She would be welcome and known in all the social circles of London. 

“Of course,” he whispered and watched her leave. He almost did not recognize her from the back. 

——

Crowe watched Sidney with a frown. 

“Your Mrs. Parker looks every inch the fine lady. Equal to Lady Worcester.” Mr. Crowe observed Charlotte from Beside Sidney. “So mature…” he said seeing her assets exposed so enticingly. 

Lord Babington cast Crowe a warning glare but Crowe just threw back a whole glass of Champagne. 

Sidney looked his wife up and down as she smiled and offered her hand now to a dashing Duke who now held it and his wife’s eyes seemingly spellbound. 

“Are you not going to stand beside her tonight?” Lord Babington asked surprised. 

Shaking his head Sidney held a half-drunk glass in his hand as he noticed Eliza approach with another handful of ladies. 

“Look, alert man, trouble doth approach.” he turned his back. 

Lord Babington turned to the side. “I shan’t leave your side.” he offered. 

Sidney nodded curtly. 

“Sidney,” Eliza smiled. “I see you are here!” she said fanning herself and she looked to her friends which Sidney had been introduced to before but had forgotten. He hoped Lord Babington knew them. 

“Lord Babington, you know my friends Mrs. Festers, and Miss Banyan?” she asked. 

Sidney was relieved for the immediate refresher in the names. 

“Ah yes,” Lord Babington nodded. “I believe I have had the pleasure of meeting Miss Banyan in Brighton last summer.” he smiled. “We shared a handful of dances.” he smiled uncomfortably. 

“I hear you are to be married.” the young woman said with a tense quality to her voice owing to some kind of historied flirtation Sidney was sure. Crowe smiled and took another glass but merely sipped this time. 

“Uh, yes.” Lord Babington answered. “To Miss Esther Denham,” he said with sentiment. 

The girl nodded. “I wish you all the happiness.” 

Lord Babington smiled with discomfort. “Thank you,” he said and looked to Sidney wanting a way out of his uncomfortable encounter. 

Seeing both of his friends struggle Crowe took one last drink and put the glass down delicately. 

“Well, Miss Banyan is it?” Mr. Crowe said speaking up. “I am Mr. Crowe, a close personal friend of both Mr. Parker and Lord Babington. I would be honored to dance with you,” he said offering his most charming bow. 

Eliza watched as her single friend smiled and accepted the dance. 

“What about you, Mr. Parker?” Eliza asked. “I have been watching you all night.” 

Lord Babington coughed over his drink and looked shocked at Mrs. Festers to see if she had the same reaction. She seemed to not be paying any of them attention as she was looking at the dance or the people milling about. 

“Were you?” Sidney asked.

She nodded. “You and your wife do not dance tonight as you did the night we met again in London.” she smiled. “And so you should dance with me,” she said and took his hand boldly.

Sidney felt burned by her gloved touch as soon as she took it but to cause a scene would cause a greater scandal. 

The dance hall was in the adjoining room and they would be hard to see. 

Taking position across from each other felt like a complete betrayal. 

As the music started their hands met. 

“Have you thought of my offer?” she asked as their bodies came close. 

He felt himself tense and go through the motions and look about the room, nervous that Charlotte would see. 

“How could I not.” he shook his head. 

“Time is running out Sidney,” she whispered. “Even now I am sure there are men sent to seek out the list of investors.”

“I hesitate to involve you.” his eyes looked down to hers. 

She blinked. “Why?” she smiled. “Afraid to let me too close, or put me in harm's way?” she said as their backs brought them flirtatiously closer. 

He did not answer. It was neither of those reasons. 

“If I invest you will need to see me, alone from time to time. How proper it would all look to everyone.” she blushed. “How easy…” she whispered. 

He shook his head. “It is not a guaranteed investment. I can't promise any return. In fact… it could be a complete loss…but it could surprise you.”

She pivoted her hand in his and smiled, batting her baby blues that used to make him go weak. “I like surprises,” she whispered. 

He clenched his jaw. “I will think about it.” 

She frowned and nodded. “I believe you will say yes to me.” she batted her eyes. “Hurry, before it is too late.” 

The song ended and they parted as she blushed but he just tuned from her after stiffly bowing and bidding her goodnight. 

Lord Babington came upon him at just the prime moment. 

“Charlotte saw you,” he whispered. 

Sidney looked around and searched the ballroom but found no sign of her or Lady Worcester any longer. 

“Where have they gone?” he asked. 

Lord Babington looked up. 

Sidney moved swiftly to the stairs and tried to not be too rude as he went to listen in on the doors, but the walls and the doors were too thick. 

“What were you thinking?” Lord Babington asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “Of the scene I would cause by refusing her. I honestly found it quite bold.” he shook his head. “Charlotte.” he closed his eyes. “And she was already upset at me over something else.” 

Babington frowned. “And what was that?” 

Sidney shook his head as he sat on a settee. “Trouble is that. I don’t know. I don’t remember getting home last night.” he sighed. “I must have said something to upset her, but I can't imagine what. I am a fool when it comes to my wife.” he groaned and hit the back of his head on the paneled wall. 

Babington laughed. “You really are. This is easy. Don’t dabble with Eliza anymore.” 

Sidney groaned. “I am not dabbling. She has a fortune and believes there is a threat against the venture besides the internal issues. I just need a small percentage of her capital to save Sanditon and my family, and my ability to be with my wife.” he reasoned.

Lord Babington nodded. “Seems a tough business. I think you will lose Charlotte if you entertain Eliza’s games. Because that is what Eliza is doing. This is a game to her.” 

Sidney blinked wondering if his friend was speaking the truth. 

“Your sweet wife, Charlotte does not play games,” Babington said soberly from beside him in the solitude of the empty hallway. 

Sidney looked down in thought. 

“Then that settles it….I am going hunting…” he said with finality. “We leave tomorrow do we not?” he asked. 

Babington nodded. “I will be off early. My carriage with Crowe leaves at ten, will you be able to make it?” 

Sidney sighed. “Yes, I dread leaving my wife behind, angry at me. I wish I could bring her along.” 

Babington shook his head. “I promise, you will not want her in such proximity to my heathen cousin.” 

Sidney sighed and looked up and down for her. 

“Have you tried telling her how you feel?” Lord Babington asked. 

Sidney rolled his eyes and a door suddenly opened. 

“Oh yes,” Lady Worcester said with a tense smile. “Mr. Parker, Lord Babington.” 

Sidney stood. “I was looking for my wife.” 

She glared at him slightly. “I see,” she said closing the door. “I think that is a very bad idea at this time,” she said and smiled. 

Sidney went to walk by her but the woman stood in his way. 

“Mr. Parker, I suggest you go back down, she is suddenly feeling…unwell.” she smiled. 

Sidney burst past her and went to the door the woman had come from and found his wife crying. 

“Charlotte,” he said coming in the room. “What has you crying?” he closed the door. 

She turned from him and swallowed her tears. 

“I am fine,” she whispered. “I think I will leave, go back to Bradford Place. It seems you have found an investor.” she nodded and straightened herself. 

He blushed. “We will both leave. This nights bore me no fruits.” 

She glared at him tearfully as she wiped at her eyes. “I thought it had.” 

Bushing past him she did not take his arm, or allow his touch. 

Across from her in the carriage, he sighed. “Charlotte, I am off tonight because I do not have an investor.” 

She wiped at her eyes. “You still danced with her.” 

He looked her face which refused to face him and nodded. He had no reply. 

——

The next morning. 

He dressed with a heavy heart as he watched her still lying abed. His hand longed to reach out for her. To smooth down her soft body once again but he knew somehow he had hurt her and he could not mend it if she would not speak to him, and now he must leave. 

It was with reluctance he leaned over her with a heavy heart that he touched her cheek and she flinched. As if burned. 

“What is it?” she asked as if scalded by his touch. 

He could not breathe for a moment. “I just wanted to bid my wife goodbye,” he said as he tried again to stroke her cheek but she again rejected his tenderness. 

“Goodbye,” she said coldly and turned from him. Her eyes were filling with more tears so he knew she was not unfeeling. Something was broken inside of her and he knew he must have done it. But he wasn’t sure what did it. 

She had been cold to him even before she had seen him dance with Eliza, now the temperature coming from her was fridged. 

Looking back at the house he paused with a heaviness in him. All was wrong between them and he did not even know how to begin to right the wrongs.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

Charlotte in a mood ignored all social calls for two days as the London rains fell. She wondered if that boded well for hunting in Hampshire. 

She had regretted not talking to her husband before he left. It had been entirely uncharacteristic to not speak her mind. Not to demand an explanation for his behavior, for his hurtful words. But she had been afraid to hear it, of their new marriage and of these new standards they were setting between them. 

She feared to hear he had made a mistake not burning their contract. Hearing something like that might have been more than she could bear. 

Clutching the pen as she sat at the parlor desk she tried to write him a letter, but much like the one to her father, she did not know where to start. 

Crumpling the paper in despair she sat nibbling her nail nervously. 

Longing for home, she looked out at the carriages that passed and pools of tears ran down her face and she did not bother to wipe them. Not even the servants bothered her there. That was until a mint green carriage pulled up and Lady Susan came in all her grandeur herself. 

Wiping her face hastily Charlotte tried not to look as pathetic as she felt. 

“I am sorry Lady Susan, I am not of the mood so socialize at a grand event,” Charlotte said holding the large gold-embossed invitation in her hand for the next evening. 

Sipping her tea Susan smiled. “I am afraid my dear that is when it is most necessary. You must know Mrs. C is acting in such a way to create disharmony in your life. She feels humiliated and wishes you the same misery and you are giving her that staying cooped up here.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “I am sure she does not waste that much energy on me. She has so many admirers.” her husband being one of them. 

“Not the one she wants.” Lady Susan said with a shrug. “Come to my little gathering tonight. It will be mostly cards and drinks. It will ease you in for tomorrow night's festivities.” 

Charlotte hesitated and put down her cup. “I am alone. My husband is in the country.” she made excuse. 

Lady Susan shrugged. “That is often the best occasion for a young lady of the Beau Monde to have her fun.” 

A deep furrowed frown crossed Charlotte’s features. “I don’t-“

“But I simply must insist.” she said. “Mrs. C. will be there and I cannot have her think she has triumphed over you within my circle.” Lady Susan placed her own cup and plate down. “I determine what is and is not fashionable, after all, not her…though she is trying her best to wrestle the crown from me.” she scoffed. “Silly thing. To think she can…”

Charlotte sighed. “I suppose if it would help you, but I am afraid I am no good at any of this. I do not understand these games you London ladies play.” 

Susan shook her head. “No my dear, you are simply marvelous. You have many admirers already.” she smiled. “I know you have a very promising future here if you but reach for it.” the woman encouraged. 

Charlotte that night, dressed in a gown of white organza trimmed in silver, endured the glances of Mrs. Campion in her direction but with Lady Susan on her arm, she felt galvanized. The nerves would not chase her off. 

“Can I persuade you into a game Mrs. Parker?” Mrs. Campion bated with a quirk to her brow. A lure to her tone. 

Charlotte wondered if she knew about the situation in Sanditon and her stomach plummeted as her cheeks flushed red. 

“It is high stakes.” she smiled with a gleam in her eye and Charlotte was almost sure the woman took pleasure in some secret knowledge. 

Had Sidney shared with her the situation and now she was using it against her and in society? How could he do such a thing? 

Charlotte shook her head. She did not gamble, but still, the question disquieted her. 

“Oh no,” she replied quietly. 

Lady Susan closed in on her. "Tosh.” the grand woman answered. “Yes you will, and I will play too,” she answered from across the space. 

“But I don’t…” Charlotte weakly voiced and reached for Lady Susan’s hand. “-gamble,” she said in the place of her real answer. She did not have any money. 

“But you do play, do you not?” she asked. “For buttons or frills, ribbons?” she asked. 

Charlotte nodded. “I suppose for little things, but not for money.” 

Lady Susan nodded, her fan up she whispered. “You do now,” she commanded simply. 

Blinking confused Charlotte stopped Lady Susan and shook her head. “I haven’t the money.” 

“I know, my dear.” Lady Susan said quietly. “Whatever you win you keep and whatever you lose it was all in good fun,” she said under her fan. 

Charlotte’s stomach did flip flops and she bit her lip nervously as she felt like she had jumped in well in over her head. Much like she had when she had first come to Sanditon and she could not quite make people out. 

Lady Susan looped her arm in hers conspiratorially. “You will play and we will not allow her to injure your perception in society. You can and will play high stakes because you are my sensational witty friend and are married to a wealthy businessman and you need to keep up appearances,” she whispered her serious advice. “Appearances are everything here.” 

Charlotte blushed as she realized how Mrs. Campion was working against her.  
As Charlotte took her seat she tried not to let her shock show to find the price of the hand was five hundred pounds, which Lady Susan seemed to have no trouble finding readily on her person. 

“It is good to have friends in high places,” Mrs. Campion said strategically as she noted the source of Charlotte’s patronage as she glanced up to Lady Susan who only seemed to smile with a friendly air that Charlotte knew was dishonest and covert.

Lady Susan nodded. “Yes, it is. Something you maybe will learn something of, in time,” she muttered as they took their seat. Suddenly others of the Beau Monde milled in close to partake in the intrigue.  
——

Charlotte could hardly believe it. She won money that night. Not just from Mrs. Campion, but from other wealthy socialites who wanted to have a chance to chat with Lady Susan. 

Charlotte had tried to excuse herself but Lady Susan never let Charlotte leave her side, nor did her winning streak end. 

Mrs. Campion being ever the competitive one had been forced to play more aggressively than Charlotte believed she wished rather than give up her seat at the table because she kept being dealt good hands. 

“You were lucky tonight Charlotte.” Lady Susan took back her five hundred as they were left alone in the secluded corner that Susan had provided behind a curtain as they drank a private sherry. 

The other ladies and gentlemen were gossiping and playing piano and some lady was trying to sing prettily but her voice warbled. 

Charlotte handed over all the winnings. “I never played for that kind of money, but when you are the oldest sister of so many siblings it is quite easy to learn people tells.” she smiled with a heaving sigh glad the game was over and she could be finished. 

Leaning over to be sure they were not being spied upon Lady Susan had a sly look. “And what tells could you observe about Lord Swarthingham?” she asked. 

Charlotte laughed with an unladylike snort. “He gets rather thirsty when he is concerned but he tries to not show it so he swallows a lot. When he is very confident he takes a drink. He tries to act causal, which is terribly obvious.” she said with a laugh. 

Lady Susan nodded. “What about Lady Whitmire, she lost a small fortune to you. Half a thousand pounds.” she shook her head. “The poor dear will have a lot to explain to her husband tonight.” 

Charlotte looked down sadly. “She wiggled her foot into mine. Quite lost her shoe too. I had to kick it back to her. I could not tell if she wanted to thank me or cry when she received her shoe and I showed my hand.” 

Lady Susan laughed. “Good heavens is that what all that was about? I thought she was playing footsie with the old Duke, which was giving me quite the giggle.” 

Charlotte shook her head laughing as Susan counted the notes. 

“What about our elegant Mrs. C?” she asked. “You took a fair bit from her.” 

Charlotte winced. “I am afraid that was luck. I could not figure out her tell.” 

Lady Susan smiled. “She holds her breath.” 

Charlotte frowned glancing out the curtain but not seeing her within the line of sight. 

“You never looked at her long enough to see she holds her breath when she bluffs.” Lady Susan said as she handed Charlotte a pile of notes. “For you.” 

She shook her head. “No, this was…” she pushed the pile back. “It wasn’t my money to play with.” 

Lady Susan smiled. “It is now.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t play with money like that.” 

She pushed it back. “Now you do.” 

Charlotte put her head down resolved. “Lady Susan… I can’t…” she tried to be firm. 

Her friend shrugged. “Charlotte, my dear…” she pushed it back. “It is nearly two thousand pounds.” she smiled. “You nor your husband will have me invest in your project and I cannot speak on it publically without detracting from the Prince Regents projects in Brighton.” she patted Charlotte’s hand. “But this, I can do. And you won it. I would not have it if not for you.” 

Charlotte gripped the small fortune of exactly 1,900 pounds reluctantly and folded the papers and put them into her purse. 

“Best in your stays.” Lady Susan said patting her chest looking suggestively to Charlotte’s bodice. “It is a small fortune after all.” 

Charlotte took a deep breath. She had just taken a significant step towards the insurance which would save Sanditon and hopefully her husbands regret in marrying her. Could that temper his anger towards her method in gaining it? 

“Brace yourself Charlotte. With your husband gone, who knows what we can do.” Lady Susan giggled, “For I know he would disapprove of your gambling like this.” 

She nodded. “Yes. He would be very cross.” 

Lady Susan smiled. “Well next time it will again be with my money I am sure, but perhaps I will take my cut.” she winked. “You are a good card player.” her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Charlotte paled. “Next time?” she asked. 

Susan nodded. “In my circle, there are often opportunities to wager and most everyone is exceedingly rich.” she laughed. “I am only as wealthy as I am because the coin flows like water through here. And my dear, you have found the ‘cup’.” she smiled and picked up the champagne flute and saluted her. “How else is a woman to legitimately conduct business without rousing too much bad opinion from her those around her?”

Charlotte looked down and thought about that statement. Being a businesswoman was quite the impossible thing in those days. Old women who did not care what society thought were the only ones at liberty to do as they wished, and even they were led astray by men like Tom. 

“When does your husband return from the hunting trip to meet a rich man from India?” Lady Susan asked as the curtain was pulled back with the wave of Susan's hand. 

“I think in two days.” she nibbled her lip. “But we are running out of time. We need will need to go back to Sanditon at the end of next week.” she smiled. “I hope he was successful…” She noticed Mrs. Campion was glancing at them now. “Or he will be in a mood as he was when he left.” 

Lady Susan reached for her hand. “Fear not. I can tell the man loves you. He just is trying to be an admiral when he has only ever been a captain. Keeping a fleet afloat is not in his wheelhouse my dear.” she whispered. “It’s in yours.” She laughed. 

Charlotte smiled and looked down sentimentally as she recalled him once calling her an admiral. 

“Why do you think I-“ she started but Lady Susan just opened her fan and smiled behind the barrier. 

“Because you can think it, and dream it. You have the vision… He does not. He came here desperate and thinking it impossible. You did not.” She said. 

Charlotte shook her head. “How can you know that. I am not even sure I know that. I did little but complain about coming here in the first place.” 

Susan just smiled at her and looked back at the gathering and shook her head rolling her eyes. 

“Fear not Charlotte, for if you can't see your self as an admiral, have confidence that I am.” she waved her fan and scanned the room. “See, what did I tell you… without you, an entirely tedious gathering.” she sighed as she changed the subject. 

—— 

Charlotte pulled the gown off and sighed heavily. The ball that following night had been difficult without her husband. Many men vied for her hand to dance and thankfully Lady Susan was the gatekeeper to those that had tried to initiate flirtations. 

Mercifully Lady Susan had sent her home early upon seeing how fatigued she was, chattering about how unfortunate but she could see that she needed the rest.

“I hope it is not melancholy. If it is that we must find a way to remedy such a pernicious state which helps no one at all.” Lady Susan had said sweetly had said in her ear as she hugged her good night. 

Alone now in her bed-chamber, she pulled on her nightgown and again sat at the letter she could not write to her husband or her father. She had just crumpled them and tossed each and every attempt into the fire unable to articulate how she felt. She was so confused and so utterly tired. 

Nothing she said or did could persuade anyone to invest. Of course many were interested in the attributes of Sanditon and promised to come even in the following weeks. But with the apartments not finished and events unplanned Charlotte felt unable to promise any entertainments but could stutter promised hopes for the next year. 

She felt a fool. 

——

Defeated both by the figurative and literal hunt as well as the events of the night Sidney looked up at his house in Lord Babington’s carriage. The hour was late and he was sure Charlotte would be asleep. He entered his home and was met by the butler’s concerned face. 

“Shall I get something for that Sir?” Jenkin’s pointed to his face and bruised lip. “Will a physician be needed?”

Sidney shook his head. “No, I will be fine.” He looked about. “All well here?” 

“Fine sir.” 

“My wife abed?” he asked and winced as he took off his jacket. 

“As far as I would know sir,” the man said. “She was out tonight with Lady Worcester.” 

He nodded. “Good, good.” 

Sidney rose the stair and hesitated a moment as he entered his room at the late hour and found the room lit by a low fire and a few candles and his wife at the small table. 

Her body lit in an almost unearthly way and he stopped short as her eyes lifted and she stood instantly seeing him. 

“What has happened?” she said her eyes wide with abject horror. “You have been assaulted?” she stepped to him hesitantly. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” nervous to approach. 

He shook his head and came closer. “I have not been attacked…I was trying my luck at fists,” he said sadly as he felt her hands touch his swollen face. 

Sidney could see the emotion and sadness in her eyes. Concern over him and he took her hand in his. “I will be fine, but…” He sighed. “I had no luck Charlotte,” he shook his head with disgust. “With Babington’s cousin.” he turned. “I all but made a fool of myself to an even bigger fool.” he shook his head.

Charlotte wanted to go to him, but she feared he would throw her off and instead approached him like a spooked horse.  
Closing his eyes he sighed. “I returned early, but I went to a fight at the club. I thought I could win something.” 

“And did you?” she asked reaching for his collar wanting to check his body better. 

“I did…” his voice was hollow. “The man was knocked out, he was not doing well when I left the club. A man's life is worth more than eleven hundred pounds. I donated it to his care and family should the worst happen.” 

Her hand went to her mouth and she felt her heart constrict but understood his gesture. “You do not need to stoop to those levels Sidney,” she whispered and kissed his chest where she could see the coloration of bruising surfacing. 

He looked up at the mention of his name. It was only the third time he had heard it from her mouth and his heart fluttered. 

“We are running out of options,” he said seriously. “I was feeling desperate.”

Tears entered Charlotte’s eyes as she glanced at him. “Not like this, there must be other options.” 

Sidney sighed. “None we want.” he held his breath and unbuttoned his shirt with difficulty. “A week apart. Tell me what fun you have had?” he asked trying to lighten the mood.

Charlotte kept silent about the first two days she nearly stayed abed. Or the afternoon of cards and wagers because at the moment she knew it would spark his ire and she wondered if perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to play more of Lady Susan’s games considering this level her husband had fallen.

“She plays a lot of cards.” she blinked trying not to fall apart as she watched him start to undress. “They all do.” 

He nodded and winced. “I suppose they do. They all like to gamble. I do think it unwise.” he shook his head. “A nasty way to make and break a fortune, however, not quite the level I went to last night.” he pulled his shirt off and she went to help him. 

“Sidney,” she whispered as her fingers ghosted over the places he had taken many punches and tears fell. 

He turned and his hand lifted to her face at the sound of his name again on her lips “You are not angry with me anymore?” he asked. 

She took his hand and squeezed it. “Of course I am very angry at you Mr. Parker,” she whispered. “But…” she hesitated. “It does not seem to matter much now does it?” she asked. 

He stroked the side of her face as he held her by the neck. “No my love…it matters very much,” he said pulling her mouth to his despite the split in his lip. 

“I have no wish to injure you.” she pulled from him concerned. 

He reached for her face. Emotion gathered in his eyes. “Charlotte, you don’t,” he whispered and his hands again pulled her to him. “I may be hurt but I wish to kiss my wife.” 

Moisture gathered in his eyes as he felt her lips tenderly meet his. Ever aware of his injuries and sensitivity to try to not disturb him further. 

A knock sounded at the door and Charlotte pushed from him carefully. 

“Yes?” she said as she opened the door. 

“A Mr. Crowe is downstairs.” the maid said. 

Sidney groaned at his state of undress. “Send the man up.” 

“Charlotte, dearest…” he sighed. “Do cover yourself well, he has a licentious imagination.” 

She went to the wardrobe and found a thick robe and Sidney smiled at her nodding his conservative approval that she was suitably covered. 

“Ah, the victor. I see you are nursing your wounds and with such a nurse.” Crowe wiggled his brow as Charlotte pulled the gap closed on the robe more. 

Sidney cursed and rolled his eyes. “What do you want Crowe.” 

Crowe looked at Charlotte and winked. “He is only in a mood because he gave back the money.” 

Sidney winced and soured. “Crowe, this is not some-“ he sighed not wishing to cite activities they used to habit before his marriage just a hand full of weeks before. “This is not the old days…” Sidney said impatiently.

Crowe nodded and looked to Charlotte and nodded. “No indeed, you have much better taste now.” he put the bottle of cognac on the table beside him. “You are going to need that, and this.” He slapped the pile of papers beside him. “The man got up and was fine within ten minutes of you leaving.” 

Sidney reached for the money confused and felt his chest constrict. It wasn’t much but at least now his face wasn't busted for nothing. 

Crowe looked to Charlotte and smiled. “I did ask the wrong woman to dance at the Sanditon Ball.” he laughed. “Lucky man Sidney. Remember, don’t be a fool!” he said turning on his heel and chuckling. 

Charlotte stood blushing but once he left she closed the door and went to the stand. 

“It is not much, but at least it will inch us closer.” he laughed. “One week left and we still need to make five or better six thousand pound investment.”

She knelt before him. “Forget about all that right now.” She did not yet tell him she had hidden one thousand nine hundred more. They needed less considering the amount she made at cards. “There are many activities this week that Lady Susan has invited both of us to, and some of them are even industrious. Perfect circumstances for conversation to revolve around speculation.” 

His gaze softened and he blinked. “I want to make love to my wife,” he said changing the subject. 

She looked at him. “You can't,” she whispered. “Not with your injuries.”

He reached for the bottle. “I can.” he uncorked it and took several gulps with a wince and then set it aside after drinking a third of it. “I am not drunk. It just helps with the pain. Come.” he said pulling her back to him. “I missed you.” 

She touched his swollen cheek. “I missed you. I felt utterly wretched with how we left things. I should have said something.” 

He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her middle and hugged her to him and buried his face in her bountiful bosom. “No, I should have said something.” He pulled the ties of her thick robe and his sore arms found the strength to pull them from her shoulders. His words were strained as his eyes nervously met hers. 

“I love you.” his mouth dropped the words as they barely slipped from his mouth. 

She looked down at him curiously and stilled. “Do you mean it?” 

He let the robe fall and nodded. His eyes were wide. Almost afraid. 

“Of course I mean it,” he whispered. 

“I mean, what about Mrs. Campion?” she asked her heart skipping beats. 

He blinked confused as the woman’s name was brought up so soon after he had just confessed his feelings for her and instantly frustrated at the mention of the woman. 

“Mrs. Campion has no place in my heart anymore,” he said with such conviction he was sure of it himself. Seeing the surprise on her face he softened and his eyes creased as a smile broke across his face. “Charlotte, I am in love with you.” easier to say the second time. 

She shook her head not sure she believed it. “When?” she asked. 

He buried his face him her belly feeling embarrassed. “I don’t know rightly the moment I realized it, it was somewhere between ‘save your unpleasantness for someone else,’ and our dance here in London,” he said to her, venturing a nervous look into her serious and penetrating eyes. “I knew that night even before I saw Mrs, Campion again, I knew I wanted you to in all ways be my wife as I held you in my arms on that dance floor…” he said. “That was why I came to your room later that night. I was clumsy and foolish, but I had intentions of convincing you to consummate the marriage. Of making you truly my wife.” 

Her brow was furrowed. “But you had spent the evening talking to Eliza,” she said shaking her head. 

He nodded. “Talking.” he smiled and blinked. “It was Tom who took more from that interaction.” he cleared his throat. “He promised my accompaniment to her. I only knew when you sent me from the room,” he chuckled. “I remember needing a drink to quell my lust for you.” he shook his head. “And my broken heart.” he chuckled in remembrance. “I was quite bruised by the rebuff.” 

She felt a tear fall from her eye and she opened her mouth slowly. “You don’t love Mrs. Campion…” 

He shook his head. “Not for many years. And not like this.” his voice broke as he brought her back down to him. 

He pulled her astride him as she lifted the nightgown hem. He pulled it up her thigh and she helped take it further as he struggled with his trousers. She was naked before him and he smiled. His lip hurt but he did not care. 

“I hope those are not sad tears?” he tried to slow her actions. 

She stopped and leaned down, her nose nearly touching his. “I love you,” she whispered tearfully. 

He felt his chest fill to burst, it hurt with the feeling of it. Or it was just the beating he had taken. 

“When did you know?” he asked.

She sheepishly looked to the side. “Lady Susan told me…At the London ball right before you asked me to dance.” she shook her head. 

He frowned. “She told you?” 

Charlotte nodded. “I have never been in love before. I did not recognize the emotion, the signs,” she said feeling foolish. “I may have loved you longer, but I don’t know.” 

He smiled and touched her cheek with tenderness. His thumb tracing her lip. “Charlotte, we must have been falling in love since the beginning,” he said and she blushed. 

His hardness throbbed for attention and her damp heat beckoned to him with an ache that he could not ignore after five days apart. Moving again his wife angled herself and he reached between them and she sank down on him. 

Both of their eyes connecting as their flesh became one, their minds shifted and slid back into place again and she smiled breaking his composure and his hand caught her again by the neck and brought her back to his mouth as he surged again inside of her. 

——

Things were well again in the Parker House. 

Not ideal the next afternoon, but Sidney sat in his study grasping Eliza Campion’s calling card and turned to the fireplace behind him, and with a sigh, he tossed it into the flames with a decided flick of his wrist. 

Between his brother's remaining investment of two thousand nine hundred and his earnings, the night before from his ill-conceived but lucky fight he had four thousand. Another six should do it. 

He had seven more days and a letter of question as to how much closer he was to their goal from Tom. Seemed Lady Denham had a visit from some investors inquiring on her interest in selling off her investment and Tom was concerned. So was Sidney because as the days went by more and more it seemed hopeless. 

His only avenue open to him now seemed the gaming tables and pugilism, but he knew Charlotte would not allow him to do that. He smiled thinking of his wife as he touched his ring finger, wishing it lie there. His knuckles had swelled and he had the forethought to take it off before he would have been required to cut it from his hand. 

A knock came at the door. 

“Yes?” he said and Charlotte peeked her head in. 

He smiled. “You never need knock, my dear,” he said leaning forward. “Close the door,” he said. 

“You had a letter from Sanditon.” she obeyed and then turned. 

He nodded. “Some troubling news I am afraid,” he said handing it to her. 

She took it from him coming around to his side of the desk. 

Their eyes locked as she took it and he pulled her to his lap with a wince to read, enjoying her soft body nestled against his despite his bruising. 

“Investors?” Charlotte asked. “More like vultures,” she said muttering as she read the letter from Tom. “There is no indication that she took any offer,” she said. 

Sidney sighed. “She would almost be right to. She is old and not likely to see any profit from this venture in her life time now that Tom has squandered so much of it. It will likely be five or ten years before and income is realized.” he put the letter aside now that she had finished reading it. Her body still comfortably cuddled on his lap. “That is the real trouble.” 

Charlotte frowned. “And if she sells?” 

Sidney sighed heavily. “The new prime investor could call in all our receipts and proofs of expenses…and Tom will be found out for… well, a con man.” 

Charlotte sat up straight in shock. “But he is not!” she protested. “He is just irresponsible with money, and perhaps…a little too optimistic.” she tried to defend him. “But-“ 

Sidney’s expression was sad and serious but he was comforted that she saw his brother that way. “I am afraid that maybe the truth, but that is not how London will see it. That is not how the Parker name will be viewed.” he stroked her back and smiled. “You warned me.” he smiled. “Don’t fret…” he sighed. “Seven more days. We will try to find something. Only perhaps six thousand more to get our hands on.” he laughed. 

She leaned into him and smiled. “I believe you will succeed,” she said and he smiled. 

“With you beside me, I just might,” he said and their lips met tenderly at first. “There is still time.” he pressed his forehead to hers. 

——

Sidney had not even noticed Eliza approach him from behind that evening at the small rout thrown by Mrs. Gendwell that evening. He had just danced six dances with his wife and he knew she needed to catch her breath with Lady Susan on the terrace. He was glad she had a good friend in London society and he knew how difficult it was to trust people here. 

“You and your wife seem much altered,” Eliza said cooly beside him, and he nearly jumped. 

He looked around for an ally to give him a buffer but without Crowe or Babers he felt exposed. 

“Mrs. Campion,” he said and turned to shift away but she would not be waylaid. 

Picking up champagne she laughed. “I would expect you to ask me to dance if not for the sheen of perspiration on your face.” 

He did not look at her. He instead kept his eyes out for his wife. 

“Why would you ‘expect’ me to ask you to dance?” he asked and then glanced at her. “Mrs. Campion, I owe you nothing, not even my attention.” 

She smiled and took a sip of her champagne as she looked out at the throng casually. “Careful Sidney,” 

His jaw gnashed together and he turned to her imposingly. “Careful of what? What exactly are you warning me of Eliza?” he said coldly now using her Christian name, but not with any sense of tenderness. 

“Of possible allies, or enemies,” she whispered and smiled. “Sidney,” she whispered. “I do so want us to be friends again, and it seems you need them by the visible bruising on your face.” 

Shaking his head he looked around. “No, I have no regret to say that I don’t wish friendship. I love my wife.”

She scoffed. “Besotted.” she rolled her eyes. “Fresh-faced farm girl all dressed up like a lady. You will tire of her eventually.”

He looked away and put his drink to the side and put his hand on his hip. “I won’t. Because it is not just the physical that draws me to Charlotte, it is her mind, her wit, and her heart. None of which drew me to you.” 

She again laughed. “That is hilarious Sidney and a terrible falsehood. You always liked my mind, and my wit,” she said and looked up at him batting her eyes. 

He shook his head. “I did but we were young then. I stand unimpressed now. And your heart is as icy as your blue eyes I once so admired.” 

She cocked her head. “Is it?” she asked. “Perhaps that could be true but my mind is sharp. I would not make the mistake of underestimating me.” 

He ground his teeth. “It does not matter Mrs. Campion. I will solve this issue with Sanditon myself, and if I cannot, I will simply go abroad and make another fortune. I made one once. I can easily do it again.” he said moving to leave his side but she touched his arm to halt him. 

“Don’t be rash Sidney,” she said batting her eyes again with a smile for the company around them so maintain the facade of good cheer. 

He laughed. “I haven’t been. I have been foolish.” he shook his head and pulled his arm from her. “Excuse me, I must find my wife. I know she was feeling overly warm.” 

“You must be very pleased with her efforts on your behalf here. Though I do not know how much Lady Susan let her keep. She took many a note from the circles here the other night.” 

Sidney froze and turned. “Excuse me?” 

Eliza smiled. “She is quite good at cards it seems. Lady Susan enjoyed her by her side the other night. She won perhaps four or five thousand pounds. I don’t remember. But Lady Susan paid for her to play.” 

Sidney frowned and blinked confused. “Charlotte was gambling?” 

Eliza smiled. “Yes, and it seems she didn’t talk to you about it either. I would never have kept such a thing from you.” 

Sidney turned and left her behind and went to the terrace where Lady Susan stood laughing with his wife. 

“Charlotte a word,” he said with a bite. 

The smile fell from her face. 

“What is it?” she asked. 

Lady Susan noted the change in the couple and looked at Charlotte and nodded and backed away to allow them privacy. 

“Gambling?” he asked. “When were you going to say anything?”

Charlotte looked at him and frowned. “How did you…?” she shook her head. “Mrs. Campion…” she accused her head nodded knowingly. 

He dropped his shoulders in defeat. 

Stepping back irritable with her husband's anger she shook her head and crossed her arms defensively. “Yes I did gamble, but at Lady Susan’s insistence only. Mrs. Campion singled me out to play, and I initially refused but then Lady Susan said that it would expose our situation and that our venture was precarious enough.” she shook her head as tears started to cloud her vision. “And you listened to her speak of me, after a lovely night,” 

Sidney’s frustration and initial anger was crushed with that single sentence as he could now see from her eyes. 

Mrs. Campion had bated her. Trapped her into a revealing situation and Charlotte’s kind influential friend had helped her as he had been unable to in his absence. And then her husband had listened to the devil that had tempted her. 

He hesitated in defense as he realized how Eliza had manipulated him. 

“I would ask for forgiveness, but at this point, I feel I just best not.” he shook his head. “I don’t deserve it. You are entirely right.” he looked up into her hurt eyes. “I am a fool. You married a fool, my love.” 

She sniffed as she tried to calm her hurt, crossing her arms tighter. 

“That was very kind of Lady Worcester to risk so much on you. And very lucky it seems that you actually set her the better for it,” he said with a relieved smile. “Had I been there I would have been able to-“ he stopped himself and shook his head. “No, we shall not discuss it again.” he looked about then to her. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked. 

Charlotte nodded. “I should have told you,” she whispered and stepped closer still talking of the card playing.

His expression was so soft as he gazed into her eyes. “Charlotte, speak no more on it. I feel a fool storming out here in an almost thunderous mood.” he put her hand to his chest. “But you always seem to calm the beast in me,” he said as a gentle smile came to his face. 

She looked up at him and her flat hand felt the warmth of his chest under it. “Any luck tonight?” 

He shook his head. “I have been enjoying too much dancing with my wife. Have you had any luck?”

She blushed but then sighed. “I have found only interested tenants. Eager to come ‘next’ season.” she rolled her eyes. “Same as every night.” 

Grunting Sidney clasped her hand in his. “It seems next season is to be very promising for Sanditon should we keep the damn thing afloat long enough to make it there,” he said looking at the festivities inside. 

She seemed to hold her breath nervous at his reaction to her secret. “I haven’t told you everything.” she winced and fiddled with her gloved fingertips. 

He stopped and looked down at her, his head cocking to the side. “What is it?” 

Charlotte turned. “Lady Susan would not hear of me giving her any of the winnings.” she turned from him. 

His gaze grew serious, and his eyes focused into a furrowed frown. “How much Charlotte?” 

She walked from him hearing the darkness in his tone. 

Hearing her breath hitch he turned her. “How much Charlotte?” he asked now more genteel. 

“One thousand and nine hundred pounds,” she whispered. 

He blinked and then stepped back. His hand went to his face which had taken a pounding for eight hundred less. 

“She let you keep those winnings?” he asked and his mouth opened, agog. 

She nodded. “She said she could not help for gossip's sake, that her connections with the Prince Regent made that difficult but that she could do this without arousing suspicion.” 

He blinked and nodded. “That was terribly generous, I don’t know how or if we can ever repay it.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “She does not want repayment, but she does want me to play for her in the future with a ten percent cut.” 

Her husband laughed with a little frustration. “You must be good then.” 

Her eyes creased and her cheeks dimpled but she was still nervous at his reaction “I am.” 

Stepping ever closer, his eyes burning with desire, “As you seem to be at everything.” 

“You are not angry?” she asked. 

He let out a sing laugh and stepped closer to her. “Angry?” now sighing, releasing the tension inside of him. “No.” he cupped her face. “We, I suppose are not as badly off as I thought.” his thumb gently brushed the side of her face and she smiled not seeing the icy blue eyes that watched, or the warm brown ones that observed all appraisingly as the waltz played. 

——

“You look very lovely my dear.” Lady Susan whispered in their corner. “A flush in your cheeks but a worry creasing your eyes,” she observed. 

Charlotte sighed as they observed the group playing yard games. She was wearing a lovely dark blue dress which flattered her coloring quite nicely but despite how well the air of concern could not leave her face or the general feeling of unease settled over her demeanor.

It had been four days since the return of her husband from the failed hunt for a fortune, and though there had been a small increase in their efforts they still were short of the funds they needed. 

“There are only four more days,” Charlotte whispered. “I know my husband is worried,” she whispered. 

Lady Susan frowned. “And you have not played at any tables all week.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “Too risky,” she whispered. “We could easily lose the ground we have covered.” 

Lady Susan turned and nodded. “My dear, all life is a risk.” 

The day was a luncheon on the lawn and an afternoon of equestrian pursuits. A fox hunt was expected at the very end before the large dinner party hosted by Lord Burlly on this vast country estate that most of the premier Beau Monde had been invited to attend. 

Sidney was off with the gentlemen wandering the ponds, where some were even fishing. Mrs. Campion was even among the guests due to her enormous fortune and many wishing to court her and her fortune, but Charlotte had not seen her for some time. They still moved in very different circles. 

A loud shot rang out and a round of claps came from onlookers as a gentleman aimed and subsequently missed a target.

“Why not several wagers now? Your husband is absent and cannot protest, and I do think many in the company would find it quite the entertainment.” Lady Susan looked about trying to think on her feet but not seeing anything suitable to wager on from the croquet game the ladies were casually playing, to a ball two others were tossing to the other. 

Charlotte smiled with a thought, her eyes cast across the green to the man holding the long gun clumsily. 

“I am a good shot,” she said looking to the sport in-front of them. “Perhaps I could attempt to out-shoot someone?” she suggested.

Lady Susan frowned. “You are good?” and scoffed. “Good heavens, what do they teach young ladies in Willingden?” 

Charlotte smiled quietly. “I kept fresh meat on the table, enough for a very large family, and some field hands. Taught all my younger brothers and sisters as well when they were old enough.” 

Susan’s eyes sparkled. “Perfect upbringing for a charming young lady.” her smile creased her eyes. “I shall bet on you, and I will give you my winnings like before, how is that?” she asked. “Will that suit your sensibilities again, dear Charlotte?” 

Charlotte blushed. “Only if it will suit your entertainments, but you keep ten percent?” 

She sighed. “Perhaps. These are often such boring occasions, and you know how much I hate tedium.” Lifting her regal head she smiled to address the gathering. 

Giggling Charlotte covered her mouth to not give away the game. 

“Lord Brandwell, hand your gun to Mrs. Parker, I feel in the mood for a high stakes wager. She tells me she is quite the shot, and I have a lucky feeling she is telling the truth. Would anyone be interested to bet against me?” 

“Not a chance Lady Worcester. This gun will send her flying back.” Lord Brandwell protested. “Surely Mr. Parker would wish otherwise. For I know he is mighty keen on his new bride.” 

Lady Susan looked about. “I do not see Mr. Parker here, do you?” she asked. “No, he is off with the gentlemen walking the ponds or some such…”

Charlotte turned rosy from embarrassment but then noticed Mrs. Campion was approaching with a passel of her admirers who laughed and gossiped. 

Lady Susan leaned forward as she too eyed Mrs. Campion. “Miss the first time. But shoot it well enough to drive the wager up, understood?” she nodded with half-moon eyes as she looked back at Lord Brandwell. “We must play our hand to the fullest. For I think this day may yield much,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.

Charlotte frowned but then nodded wondering what the woman meant. 

“How much do you wager she can’t even shoot the gun.” Susan looked to the young and egotistical lord who enjoyed the women fawning over him and his prowess. 

“Fifty pounds,” he said with a smile and a swagger. “I would wager fifty pounds.” 

Lady Susan shrugged. I was thinking five hundred.” she offered. 

The man blustered. “five?” he scoffed. 

Lady Susan shrugged. “You are the one so sure she will be blown entirely back and quite possibly grievously harmed, and voiced concern her husband would not approve.” she reasoned. “No…I think you should have the confidence in five hundred pounds should you not?” she asked. 

He blinked and scoffed. “Alright, Lady Worcester. I wager five hundred pounds that Mrs. Parker cannot successfully fire this gun, though I fear it will injure her pretty shoulder,” he said handing it off to her. “I sincerely hope it does not and offer my services to comfort her in her husband's absence,” he said. 

Lady Susan laughed. The sound of it, like a song. “Worry not. I am sure all will be well.” 

Charlotte moved into position and knew they were not throwing a target this time. Bracing the gun as she had done a thousand times before she readied herself. 

With a pull of her finger she fired but not well as directed. She had let the but of the gun slip from her shoulder as if untrained. 

A clap of applause sounded from the group. 

“I see.” Lord Brandwell clapped. “You must have had an older brother teach you. But of course, it is plain you can’t aim.” he smiled. “Good show. I suppose you won in the end,” he said still clapping condescendingly and went to reach for the gun but Charlotte held fast. 

Lady Susan smiled brightly. “What Lord Brandwell, you are not interested in a little double or nothing?” she asked. 

He blinked. “You saw her, she can shoot it, but only that.” he smiled. “It is the accomplishment however my dear Mrs. Parker, I will grant you.” 

“Well, suppose you now wager a thousand, if she can hit three out of six targets.” Lady Susan stood now feeling excited. 

The man laughed. “I can't even hit three out six.” he crossed his arms and scoffed. 

Lady Susan shrugged. “Well, if she cant hit three, you get your five hundred back plus mine and another thousand. Grand totaling two thousand pounds on a single woman’s ability to hit or miss three moving targets. How is that for high stakes ladies and gentlemen?” she incited the crowd to add pressure to the man. 

Charlotte glanced at Mrs. Campion and noticed she was now placing her own wagers between her circle.

The other onlookers clapped and started placing their private bets excitedly while Charlotte laughed thinking it insane. Such a sum should never rest on her shoulders over a shot. Shots she was now not even certain she could make. 

Like Lady Susan said coin flowed like water in this strange place. One just had to know how to operate the cup. 

Her hand shook and she feared she was going to lose. This was why Sidney did not believe in wagers. She could lose Lady Susan a lot of money and she would feel the need to give back what she had been given. a debt never able to be repaid. 

With a breath, she focused on the need to be free, to live with her husband without this weight on his back. One that she put on him. To finally see past this horrid week. 

“So, is it agreed?” Lady Susan asked the Lord. 

Lord Brandwell looked to Charlotte who looked to have lost her nerve and then Lady Susan. “I don’t believe it. A woman cant shoot.” he muttered as he struggled to decide on accepting. “alright, you have a bet.” he sighed. “She looks like she is going to be sick anyway.” 

Charlotte looked to Lady Susan and shook her head trying to stop this insanity. 

Her friend just smiled and nodded to her to turn around. 

“Pull!” a shout sounded near her which caused her to startle. 

Charlotte missed the first target and tuned in a rush not believing they released it before she was ready. 

“Pull.” 

She missed the second and she felt a rush of adrenalin course through her as the gun rose quickly to her shoulder as if a trained soldier and her finger was instantly on the trigger, ready for the next. 

“Pull.” 

Charlotte finally hit the third, shattering it spectacularly. 

“Pull,” 

With a gasp from the crowd, she hit the fourth, fracturing the edge. 

“Pull,” the man shouted enthusiastically now. 

Her heart in her throat she hit the fifth. 

“Pull!” came an ecstatic final shout. 

Applause broke out as she hit the final target, hitting four of the six thrown. Turning she realized she had just wagered on two thousand pounds and the first two misses were only because they started before she was ready. She was a far better shot than she knew. 

“So…women can learn to shoot. I shall keep that in mind when I have daughters.” Lord Brandwell said as good-naturedly as he could as Charlotte still held the gun beaming in awe of her accuracy which she had never tested in such a manner. 

“Though, I fear I was taken for a ride, Lady Worcester.” he protested charmingly now in the direction of Lady Worcester. 

“That is because you were my dear, but by yourself. You simply would not imagine a girl being good at something you felt a man could only excel at.” Lady Susan winked. “That was your folly.”

“My father is going to cut me off for this one when he hears of it.” he chuckled. 

She stepped down and stroked his cheek. “Fear not. You will make a rich match and two thousand pounds is no great fortune,” she said brightly. “Money flows like the river among our circle,” she said. “You will make that back and more, and you will lose that and more, I predict.”  
her laugh was like gentle music to the crowd. Neither condescending nor rude, just light. 

The gun was taken as the ladies surrounded her with questions on where she learned to shoot and the men just regarded her with curious and flirtatious glances which Charlotte ignored but caught the furious glare of Mrs. Campion who had obviously wagered against her. 

Charlotte walked with Lady Susan to the stables later as they made ready for the fox hunt. 

“One thousand, five hundred pounds closer my dear.” Lady Susan said handing her the notes but Charlotte shook her head. 

“What about your ten percent,” she whispered as she tried to push it back. 

The woman shrugged. “You need it far more than me and I fear you will know no harmony until this matter is settled,” she whispered. “And I do think your dear husband is looking quite as dispirited as our elegant Mrs. C.,” she said glancing at the woman.

Charlotte noticed her husband coming up the green in his top hat with an air of frustration about him. 

“Sidney does not look to be in a good mood,” she whispered. 

Lady Susan frowned. “No indeed. No luck it seems with the gentlemen today.” she clucked her tongue. “Poor man does not yet understand it is the women who move most of the commerce around here.” 

Charlotte frowned. “But my husband is a successful businessman.” 

Lady Susan’s brow’s rose. “Is he?” she blinked. “As far as Antigua and the new world perhaps, but when it comes to established wealth and tapping into that, he has little practice. A warehouse and several investments here and there are not considered 'great' business in these parts. Not anymore impressive than the average man. Where you have a softer and more accomplished hand I think. More promise at the very least here.”

Charlotte’s brow furrowed. “Lady Susan you give me far too much credit.” her eyes caught the proximity of Mrs. Campion who was headed to the stables as she was. 

“Charlotte, you look like you intend on joining the fox hunt,” Sidney said in a shocked tone. 

Lady Susan squeezed her hand. “Enjoy the ride, my dear. I shall watch from the carriages. I am not in the fit form to ride today myself.” she said looking to Sidney with a censoring look and he did seem to respond to it by calming his demeanor. 

“I thought you would be in the carriages,” he said coming to her. 

She shook her head. “I know perfectly well how to ride, and I have never been on a fox hunt, and I am not sure when or if I will be able to again,” she said looking off to the side. 

Mrs. Campion walked by with a smile as she had her horse. “Don’t be silly Sidney, I am going.” the woman interjected, then smiled at them both with an unnerving air. 

Taking her arm Sidney pulled her into privacy which was difficult with people and stable-hands milling about. 

“I just did not realize you intended to be out there. I have enough to worry about,” he said his hand gentle now on her arm. “I was not even sure I was going to join after the afternoon in the sun I have had. 

She felt her stomach flutter now as she knew he wished to forbid it. 

“Sidney,” she whispered. “I want to go. I haven’t been on a horse in so long,” she said. 

He touched her cheek lovingly. “That is what I worry about.” he sighed. “Does it mean that much to you?” 

She nodded. “I am sure they will choose me a nice little mare that won't be too difficult to handle,” she said and he smiled lightly before kissing her behind a stall. 

If they were not so close to so many it would have been far more heated. 

“You seem troubled.” Charlotte clung to him. 

He nodded. “Troubles best discussed after dinner on the carriage ride back to Bradford Place.” he sighed. “Come, let us get you to your horse,” he said taking her hand. 

She looked to see a chestnut mare was being brought to her. 

“I know you are a country girl,” he spoke low. “You do ride side-saddle?” he asked. 

She blushed. “Yes.” she took the reigns. “Though I am better astride,” she said with a mischievous smile that brought a blush right up to her husband's ears and a peeking hardness to the front of his trousers. 

He looked about and noticed Mrs. Campion still lingered as he helped his wife to her mount. But he tried to pay her little attention as his hands took care to make sure she was safely up. 

His hand took hers and kissed the inside of her wrist, and he smiled. She kicked her horse to give him some confidence in her ability and he smiled as he moved swiftly to the horse prepared for him. 

Charlotte looked about to see nearly everyone was moving onto the fields as the trumpeters were sounding and the dogs were barking. It was becoming quite an active field. Far more than the regatta had ever been, or even the cricket for that matter. 

Scanning the area she looked to the gathering of carriages and could see Lady Susan waving to her and she waved back but shielding her eyes from the sun she could not make out what she was trying to convey. 

Sidney was soon at her side and she wondered what made Lady Susan seem so animated when she was always so reserved. 

“Ready?” he asked with a frown. 

She nodded and their horses trotted together 

Sidney was proud of her form and they laughed together as she kept pace. He knew Eliza lurked near watching. Neither cared about her or the fox. Both just enjoying the ride through the lovely countryside. But he soon grew concerned at a few jumps she made. Something seemed to be wrong with the horse. 

“Charlotte, no!” he said as she approached a stone wall and the horse threw her clean over rather than take another jump.

Jumping from his horse he scrambled over the rocks, images of her dead flashing in his mind. 

“Charlotte!” he cried as others came to his aid. 

“Mrs. Parker!” another yelled, “I can’t believe that mare would throw her.” 

Sidney leaned over her body, face down, crumpled up. Her head had mercifully not hit any stone, but it seemed to have impacted the ground hard enough to knock her entirely unconscious. 

“Charlotte!,” he demanded more sternly as went to pull her up. 

“Careful Mr. Parker. Much could be broken. Best not go grabbing at her.” one of the gentlemen said. “Could cause her far more injury.” 

Many in the hunt continued on in the pursuit but many had noticed this drama and dismounted to circle Charlotte who still had not stirred. 

“We need a doctor,” Sidney said panicked. “Someone find a doctor, NOW!” His hands quaked and his voice broke as he demanded aid. He did not have her level head to steady him. 

Some of the men seemed to rush to the carriages that had come to stand at an outcropping of trees. 

Sidney's hand went to her neck, desperate for proof of her life. There he found it. 

“Hold on my love,” he muttered feeling the words choke him as he was surrounded by strangers and no support. 

“Help comes Mr. Parker old boy.” came a man's voice. He did not quite register who but it brought him no comfort. 

“She may be a good shot, but she can't ride very well now can she.” Eliza’s voice seemed to chime crudely among the throng in very poor taste considering no one knew how injured she was. Among the crowd, they could think she was dead. 

Sidney did not look in her direction. His only concern was his wife that his hand shook as he watched a physician carefully now turn her. 

“No broken neck.” the man muttered. “Very good.” 

Sidney leaned in, hovering as his hand reached her head to stroke her had. The riding hat she had been wearing was gone now. Her hair had grass and her face was smeared with mud. 

“Probably a concussion. We will need to carefully get her inside, and laid down.” the doctor said. “Some smelling salts too, to see if we can rouse her,” he said. 

They waved some under her nose and she fluttered her eyes a little and moaned. 

“Good, very good…” he said. “Come, she is not well enough to walk.” 

Sidney scooped her up in his arms and took her with him to the nearest carriage and went to the large country house. 

Rushed to a comfortable room the doctor fussed over her for some time and Sidney was asked to leave so that the man could examine her fully. Sidney insisted a woman be present so a maid stood at the foot of the bed so that all was satisfied. 

As he stood in the large gallery hall he felt the air leave his lungs and he feared he could not breathe. Just this morning he thought the worst that could happen would be him leaving for India or Antigua again. But no…this was worse. Losing her for a lifetime. Not just a hand full of months or years. 

Turning he noticed a servant approached. “Mr. Parker. A letter come from London, Bradford Place.” 

Sidney shook his head and took it. 

It was in Tom's hand. 

“Thank you,” he said. His hand shook and he could not imagine what would bring Tom to London. Regardless did not have the patience for his brother at that time. He would open it only after he knew his- Charlotte was well. 

Lady Susan approached. “Well?” she asked abruptly. 

Sidney turned and the composure he had managed to restrain crumbled and his eyes welled. “I don’t know.” 

She turned to the door. “I knew there was something,” she whispered. 

He frowned and shook his head confused. 

“Has the doctor said anything?” she asked. 

Sitting down he felt dizzy, he shook his head. “Nothing.” 

Going to him she took his hand. “Mr. Parker,” she knelt down to see him at eye level. “Charlotte is strong. Don’t despair of her yet.” she tried to smile. “I will go see if I can get some answers.” 

Sidney took her hand and nodded thankful. “You have been a good friend.” 

She smiled and patted his had. “We shall see.” 

Leaving his side Sidney broke down into heart-wrenching sobs. He could not contend with this. The thought of losing her in any other manner was preferable. 

Not caring at this point if he caused a scene. He loved his wife, and he had no intention of facing a lifetime without her. He would really and truly lose the man he had become. 

——  
Lady Susan entered the room as the Doctor was covering the girl back up. 

“How is she?” 

The man looked up and nodded. “A concussion, broken collar bone, and a broken forearm and wrist. All will heal. But she will need to have very restricted movement for six to eight weeks while those fractures heal.” he said. “If she is to move, it would be best she is kept laying flat in a cart all the way,” he said simply.

She frowned seriously. “Anything else?” 

He nodded. “She also bleeds between her legs I am afraid it is possible…though not sure…” 

Lady Susan’s face fell. “Miscarriage?” she asked. 

The doctor shook his head. “Hard to say when she cannot rouse enough to find out if she was with child,” he said. “I have done a pelvic exam. If she is, it is very early.” he sighed. “It could just be her woman’s time, but she is wearing nothing to protect her garments indicating she did not expect it.” 

He looked her over and nodded. 

“Best to leave her, and let her head rest, and recuperate. I have done a reflex test and all were good there.” he sighed. “We just need to see if all is well after,” he said. “I have dosed her with some laudanum as she will be in significant pain from the fracture to her clavicle.” he indicated the location of the injury. 

Lady Susan smiled. “I suppose that is good news.” 

“I have done my best to align her injuries and she will need more laudanum for the pain in the days ahead. It will be a long road to recovery,” he said. “It will be important that she moves very little in the coming days. Perhaps even a brace will need to be made to inhibit the movement of her shoulder so that she allows the bone to set properly. 

“I know her husband will be more than attentive that she follows the orders to the letter,” she assured the doctor. “Will you be able to continue to treat her back in London, I will pay for everything,” she told him. 

He nodded. “Of course my Lady Worcester.” he bowed. “I am more concerned for the head injury, but she seemed to rouse some while I was setting her bones which gave me some optimism.”

Lady Susan let the Doctor go tell Sidney the news while she stayed at Charlotte’s side and pulled the notes into her pocket rather than her husband finding them before she took her hand. 

“Don’t you worry my dear. I will make this more than all right,” she whispered. “In this unfortunate event you have a strangely timed ace up your friends sleeve my dear.” she kissed her forehead where a goose egg had formed. “And don't you worry, I promise I will get something out of it too.”

Sidney entered the room. 

“He says she could be miscarrying a child?” his voice was strained. His face was awash with grief. 

She shushed him. “Calm yourself, Mr. Parker,” she said. “Come now, she is not awake and cannot tell us if that is indeed true, it could just be her woman’s time. But if you must know perhaps you can help get to the bottom of that possibility.” she offered. 

He went to her side and put his hand gently to her stomach and the other to her hand. 

“I didn’t want her to ride,” he whispered. 

Lady Susan nodded. “Don’t think about that. Accidents happen,” she whispered. “Now, this is personal but when were you intimate first?” she asked. 

He closed his eyes. “Two weeks and two days ago,” he said with shaking breath not facing the woman but his wife’s unconscious form. 

She put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t fash yourself…You will be again if this is, in fact, a loss,” 

He blinked back tears. 

“Did she ever have her woman’s time?” Lady Susan asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “I thought perhaps she had, but she never said.” 

She looked down at Charlotte. “Well we cannot know then, so there is no use fretting about it for now.” she smiled. “You barely have started. So much time to begin anew,” she said with a playful tone. “She will live and that is the mercy.” 

Sidney sighed relieved to have her verbalize it and nodded. She would live. 

“Yes, that is all that matters.” he leaned forward and pressed his head to hers. “All will be well,” he whispered to himself. 

Lady Susan went to the servant and whispered while he shakingly sat down beside her. 

“I must go down and make excuses and offer reports as to her condition. Lord Burlly is already very fond of her and will wish to see to her every comfort while she is here,” she said softly. 

Sidney could hardly think besides count the shallow breaths that Charlotte took. 

“Is there anything else that I can do Mr. Parker?” Lady Susan asked. 

He shook his head. “No thank you,” he whispered still clutching her hand and holding it to his lips. 

“You should know she was cajoled into more wagers by me today,” she said at the door. 

Sidney turned his head. “I no longer care,” he said coldly. 

Lady Susan smiled. “She hit four targets with a gun where no others could hit one this afternoon. Quite put all the gentlemen to shame.” She smiled. “Did you know she could shoot?” 

He shook his head. 

“The notes are here. One thousand five hundred,” she whispered. 

Sidney shook his head and took it from her impassioned. “It brings no comfort.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “Time will. Time will heal her,” she said putting her hand to his shoulder. 

He just cried as if he was afraid and relieved all at once. He had never felt so utterly lost in how to feel.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go, which will also be about 10k but with a little add on of about 3k words (an epilogue!) 
> 
> Chapter 8 is basically written with three scenes yet to write, and will be uploaded on the 18th of this month marking this fiction concluded one month after it's beginning.

Chapter 7

Lady Susan could not bear the smug smile on Mrs. Campion’s face that evening at a remarkably somber affair. Which was supposed to be a rather gay one after the fox hunt, but had transformed itself after the event. 

Lord Burlly could not abide music now unless it was of the somber variety. 

“How is your special little Mrs. Parker?” Mrs. Campion asked nibbling her second course contentedly. “There are rumors she may not live long, considering the extreme trajectory of her fall.” 

Lady Susan’s brows shot up and blinked as she set her glass aside. Her eyes narrowed, but before she could answer their host cleared his throat and set his drink aside. 

Lord Burlly shook his great head. “No no, of course not, the doctor Foster assures me that all is well and the lovely Mrs. Parker is out of mortal danger. All is in hand, Mrs. Campion, worry not your pretty head. The young woman will be well after a while, the doctor has assured me and her husband to our satisfaction” he said with seriousness. 

“She was a remarkable shot,” Lord Brandwell’s voice said somberly. “I can’t believe she hit four plates.” 

“And would have hit more if had been given time to aim.” Another said. 

Mrs. Campion nodded. “Though not the best rider now was she?” her scoff did not rouse any laughter this time in her corner. She seemed abandoned in her bullying. 

Lady Susan eyed Mrs. C. and glared. “Even an accomplished rider can be thrown.” her eyes noted the slight flutter in the woman’s lashes. The almost imperceptible shift in her expression. “Something was wrong with the horse and all stable men are being questioned.” 

The woman's eyes shifted back to her plate and shook her head. “It was so obviously just bad handling.” she rolled her eyes. 

Lady Susan looked at her. “Was it?” 

Mrs. Campion looked up and then up and down the table. “Well, it must have been. What else?” she asked. 

Lady Susan blinked irritably. “We shall soon find out.” 

Guests at the table started discussing who could have done such a thing while Mrs. Campion grew very silent for the rest of the dinner party. 

——

Sidney sat beside Charlotte on the large double bed, unable to move from her side. His eyes focused on each breath she took. Wanting to be sure she took the next one, and then the next. Not quite believing she still lived. His eyes drifted down on occasion to her belly which his mind tried to block from thinking about a child. One they could be losing. 

The doctor Foster again looked between her legs and Sidney glanced at him. 

“Well?” he snapped frustratedly at both his presence there and the reason. 

The man scooted his spectacles up. “Just spotting,” he said. “Nothing troubling yet.” 

Running his hand down his face he then loosened his buttons on his shirt and tried to breathe. “Spotting, what is that?” 

The doctor sighed. “Just the slightest drops of blood Mr. Parker. Not as alarming as it would be as you might think.” 

He shook his head and tried to loosen the tension inside of him. 

“She will not wake for many hours.” the Doctor said. “Perhaps you could also get some rest,” he said. “Or at least some food?” 

“I am not hungry,” he said. 

His temper was flaring. He had not seen his wife’s eyes in hours and she was bruising so unnaturally along her chest and arms. 

A knock sounded at the door. 

“Sidney old friend.” Lord Babington’s voice came behind him. 

His eyes opened surprised and he turned. In response to the intrusion, the Doctor pulled the bed cover over Charlotte as the two new gentlemen entered. 

“Crowe, Babers…” Sidney stood confused. “What are you doing here?” 

They shook their head. “We heard about the mishap, some fellows from the hunt came into the club tonight and were talking of it. Being good friends we were able to gain entry into this fine dower affair after a long ride upon horseback no less.” Crowe said moving closer. “She isn’t dying, is she? Because from the state of you, you would think she is.” 

Sidney shook his head but he felt like he was bearing the weight of the world on his back and it was about ready to crumble beneath it. 

The Doctor frowned. “No the young woman just had a terrible fall and has at least two serious broken bones and one smaller one in her wrist, but those are pesky,” he said. “She will be bed bound for a number of weeks I think.” 

Crowe rolled his eyes. “Oh, tough break. Bedbound and can't even have any fun.” 

Sidney shook his head. “Can you cease with the entertainments right now,” he said disgusted with the line of thinking of his friend. 

Lord Babington looked over his shoulder. “Yes Crowe, don’t you have any manners anymore?” 

Crowe rolled his eyes and sighed. “I suppose not,” he grunted and looked her over. “She will be alright?” 

Sidney looked to the doctor again perhaps for the fiftieth time in the last four hours. 

“She will.” the doctor checked her pulse again and nodded. “Just sleeping. Heavily medicated.” 

Sidney nodded and swallowed. 

Crowe offered him a drink and Sidney shook his head but Crowe insisted as the doctor left allowing the men to their conversation. “Come now. It is obvious, wife almost died. You must have a drink.” 

Sidney pushed it back. “No.” he looked back at her and his hands went to his hips. “I can't imagine it.” the air fair choked him. “I have never been happier in my life, and I almost lost it all.” tears fell now. “Just a bloody second was all it took.” 

Lord Babington nodded. “Yes, and we were both thinking that we know you are proud and stubborn Sidney, but we can’t see you forced to leave her. Especially not when she is an invalid.” 

Sidney shook his head. “I fear it is too late. It is spreading across the social groups that now all the small investors have sold off their shares and for a quarter the price.” he cursed. “I don’t even know who told them the building had been halted.” he shook his head. “Now with this… I haven’t the ability to handle both.” 

Crowe shook his head. “No, you will not give in Sidney, Because if you do, I promise I will take such tender care and observation of your Mrs. Parker to cause you grievous concern. On that, I will give you my solemn oath.” Crowe’s voice was soft but meaning laced within. 

Lord Babington looked serious. “How much do you yet need?” he asked. “In the way of Funds to get the insurance and building back on?”

Sidney shook his head. “Three, four… thousand…” he sighed. “It matters not. I’ll not leave her side.” 

Lord Babington frowned. “You will lose everything. Esther writes that Lady Denham is very keen on selling rather than call in the debt. She is frustrated.”

Sidney shook his head. “Then I will go abroad.” 

Crowe leaned in. “Do you not understand my thick-headed friend, I shall cause you the most grievous concern Sidney.” he fluttered his lashes. “I will seduce your wife.” 

Sidney shook his head. “She will not be tempted.” 

Crowe cocked his head. “Oh but India is so very far away, and when likely you die of some horrible disease I shall be there to comfort her. And what a comfort it will be…to us both.” 

Sidney’s fist balled up. “Damn you.” he took a halted breath. “See Babers? He should be your best man, he speaks strange sense sometimes in the crudest of terms.” he seethed in his frustration. 

Lord Babington nodded. “It seems I will have no choice. You will be indisposed anyway,” he said speaking of his looming nuptials. 

Crowe shrugged and moved to bow in a clumsy, awkward manner. “Well, that is no way to propose to me.” 

Sidney looked down at his wife. 

“I don’t know if I can ever repay either of you,” he said. 

Crowe shrugged. “Just keep me out of the gutter as long as you can my friend and we will call my side square.” 

Sidney almost laughed but a quarter smile broke. 

“You know it is probably too late,” he said. 

They nodded. “Not without a fight,” Crowe said. “And I will do my best not to seduce your wife until after you are dead…or at the very least presumed dead,” he said. 

Babington rolled his eyes and batted at his chest and looked at Sidney apologetically. 

“You know him, Sidney, he can never watch his mouth,” Babington said. 

Sidney took the offered drink now and bid his friend off as they promised to secure him the insurance by the end of the week. He in turn promised to give them all the funds he had when he could. For now, he would not be leaving his wife, and that they understood. 

——

Lady Susan gazed at the gouged flesh on the horse caused by an unknown item that had been jammed under the saddle. The stablehand had admitted to it, said he had done it for ten pounds. But Lady Susan said that she would protect him if he would point the finger at the person who paid him. 

“It was only meant to throw her the woman said.” the boy told her. “It wasn’t supposed to hurt the horse either…” the young man said looking contrite. “Is the young woman going to live?” 

Lady Susan assessed the horse sadly and sighed. “Yes she will live, but she very nearly died. You were complicit in attempted on someone's life,” she said as she turned. “I will need your help as witness and your testimony. We will need to hide you safely,” she said. “Your life could be in danger for all we know,” she said wiping her hands distastefully. 

Turning she went back to the house. Many were still at the event that should have been long over. Guests had entirely overstayed their welcome on account of the spectacle and claims of care and service, but truly just wanted to be present should there be gossip to speak of. 

Entering the grand home she found Mrs. Campion. 

“Is Mrs. Parker improved?” She asked. 

Lady Susan stiffened her spine and nodded. “Indeed. Are you leaving here soon to go back to London?” she asked in turn.

Mrs. Campion blinked and nodded. “Perhaps in a day or two. I wanted to be sure Mrs. Parker was well first,” she said sweetly. 

Lady Susan smiled. “How thoughtful. I suppose you will have some business to attend to?” she probed the activities of the woman’s day. If her sources in London were correct there were expected visitors that day with some important papers to sign. 

Nodding Mrs. Campion smiled. “Some legal matters have come up. Just a few things.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “Of course.” 

——

Charlotte opened her eyes and the sun streamed in foggily to her consciousness. 

“Charlotte?” came his voice. 

“Mr. Parker?” she answered and felt a hand gripping and kissing hers. “Sidney.” she then whispered remembering. 

“Where?” she started to try to sit but she felt a firm hand press her back. 

“Don’t,” his voice moved over her gently. “You cannot move about.” 

Her eyes blinked as she looked around until she found his warm and concerned brown ones in her line of vision. 

“What happened?” she asked. 

His eyes held hers as they seemed to cloud with emotion. “You have suffered a riding accident.” his voice was low, “You are very lucky. Only a number of broken bones,” he said. “They are delicately set. I won't have you disturb them,” he said smoothing her brow. 

She winced wanting to sit up. 

“How do you feel?” he asked. 

She closed her eyes pained. “What happened?” 

He looked to the doctor concerned. 

“She may be confused. Perhaps even some memory issues.” the man said. 

Charlotte shook her head and winced. “I mean. I remember I was jumping the stone wall, and then the horse refused…” she asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “Something must have spooked it.” 

“Mr. Parker, since your wife is awake, I would like to ask her some questions, if she is able. To ascertain other injuries if there are any.” doctor Foster spoke.

Charlotte swallowed. “Of course. But can I have something to drink?” she requested. 

Sidney looked to the doctor and he nodded and helped her to drink using a strange metallic tube. 

“Clever,” she whispered. 

The doctor nodded. “It is, and you will need it for the many weeks you are abed.” 

“Weeks?” she asked and looked to Sidney. “What of Sanditon?” 

Sidney shook his head. “Please, worry not about the fate of that place when you are in this condition.” 

She groaned and wanted to cry but in her confusion, she felt no time for that. 

She felt fingers touch her feet. “Do you feel this Mrs. Parker?” he asked. 

She kicked at his hand. “Yes,” she said impatiently. 

The doctor moved to her other foot. “How about this?” he asked and she tried again to lift her head but Sidney again gently restrained her. 

“Yes,” she sighed and then moaned at the pain that exploded in her shoulder and chest at the effort. 

“Please don’t try to move again, Mrs. Parker. Your clavicle, also known as your collarbone is fractured, as is your left arm and wrist,” he said. “Does anything else hurt?” 

She nodded. “My belly.” she closed her eyes. 

Sidney’s breath caught and he just looked to the doctor. 

The man nodded and grunted with a step forward to be in her sightline. “Then that brings me to a difficult question Mrs. Parker.” he started. 

Sidney’s hand gripped hers and he felt his throat tighten in emotion. 

“When were your last courses?” the man asked. 

She blinked and closed her eyes. “I don’t know. I was on the ride back from Scotland.” she looked to her husband trying to imagine how long it had been. Perhaps two days after we were married?” 

“And how long ago was your marriage?” the man asked. 

Sidney looked to the man. “One month and nearly two weeks ago.” 

The doctor nodded. “So your woman’s time was missed?” he asked to verify from her. 

She looked to her husband with a painful turn of her head and nodded. 

“I am sorry.” she swallowed. “I didn’t -“ 

A large tear fell from his eye and he kissed her hand. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

She sighed. 

“I take that as a yes?” he asked. 

Charlotte closed her eyes and nodded. “I suspected it possible but far too early to be sure of anything.” 

The doctor nodded solemnly. “You seem then to be suffering a mercifully early miscarriage, Mrs. Parker. If you were but even a few more weeks along, it would be far more uncomfortable.” the doctor said. “Of course the bleeding is just spotting now, but it could worsen and pain in your belly, and cramping at this point is not a good sign.” 

Sidney’s hand went to her stomach with more concrete heartbreak and anger at himself for not being more firm about refusing to let her join the fox hunt. 

She closed her eyes as tears slid down to her ear lobes. “I suppose it is a relief, is it not?”

Her husband shook his head confused. His eyes were clouded in pain. 

The doctor looked upon the couple. “She will need another dose of laudanum after you try to eat something. It will make her sleep. A special cart can be called for you to bring you to your own home in a week or two but for the time being, I prescribe it inadvisable to move you, Mrs. Parker. We will need you to prevail on the kindness of Lord Burlly a little longer.” 

She took a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. 

“I will write your family,” he said still holding her hand. His other still on her stomach to hold the child they still had for the time being.

She felt a grief wash over her and she looked at him. “I was never able to write to my father. I know you must be angry…” 

Sidney looked from her and shook his head. “I am not angry at you,” he whispered. “I should have made time to go to Willingden…” he said, his eyes full of regret, and gripped her good wrist. “All will be well,” he whispered. “There are worse things than financial ruination and a moody husband,” he said softly. 

She moaned. “You will now need to leave. Go abroad…” she whispered. 

He nodded. “Yes, likely…but I want you to focus on healing.” 

Her tears fell now and his throat tightened anew. 

“Will it be Antigua or India?” she asked, her eyes fluttering the tears from her vision. 

He stood and shook his head. “I still have connections in Antigua, and after the last interaction with Babington’s cousin I am not very warm to the idea of India…and Crowe reminded me of the many diseases there and the extreme civic unrest.” 

She gasped and had trouble breathing and he leaned in close to her. 

“It's all my fault.” she lamented. “Sidney… You, everything. It was all a mistake. I should not have told you about the insurance, I should not-“ she wanted to wipe her eyes but he had taken it into his hand. “You must regret ever meeting me. I ruined everything.” 

He looked at her shocked a moment. “How could that be, when I have been out of my mind with grief? Charlotte,” he looked to her hand. “Don’t be silly,” he whispered. “It will be agony to leave you. But infinitely easier knowing you live.” 

He found her silence unsettling. “What, no remark on my choice of entrepreneurship?” he tried to smile. 

She shook her head, still overcome. “No, I seem to be terribly ignorant on those matters.” 

He blinked, pained by her words. “I was thinking to send for Georg-“ a knock sounded on the door. 

“Yes?” he asked. 

A maid opened. “A Mr. Tom Parker to see you, sir?” 

Sidney sighed and turned. “Seems the business could not wait.” 

Charlotte frowned. “Business?” she asked. 

Sidney nodded. “He sent a letter yesterday afternoon. He was at Bradford Place. I did not read the letter I could think for nothing besides you, but I suspect it had something to do with the minor investors all selling off their shares for a song. A quarter of their value. I found out while walking the lakes.” 

Charlotte’s lip quivered. 

“I told you not to worry about it.” he sighed and leaned over her. “Fortunes rise and fall. We will figure this out.” his lips covered hers as he thought of their child. Of the pain of loss. His head rested against hers gently. 

“I will return shortly.” 

The kiss broke something inside of her. He was so forgiving. How could she have ever imagined him such a brute when he could be capable of so much warm compassion?

Her hand touched her stomach and he followed silently. 

—— 

Sidney left Charlotte with a maid to help her to necessities with great reluctance and irritable impatience. His white shirt was unbuttoned a little and his vest was entirely undone as he met Tom in the foyer of the great house. 

“Oh Sidney, what in God's name has kept you?” he asked. “You look terrible.” his voice said astonished but the panicked look on his face said he was impatient himself. “Nevermind all that….” his voice cut Sidney off before he could speak. 

Sidney frowned almost angry by that one comment. 

“You got my letter?” he asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, I have been busy.” he ran his hand through his hair. “I haven’t had the time.”

Tom cursed and paced. “Yes, yes, playing I know. Always at your entertainments.” His eyes were bloodshot and his voice full of his older brotherly judgment. 

Sidney looked thunderous at Tom now. “Work!” he shouted. “That is enough Tom!” 

Tom enraged himself, fatigue rendering him sensitive to sudden anger. “The entire investment has been sold off and you are still at a Fox hunting party!”

Sidney cursed, “I don’t give a damn about it anymore Tom!” he shouted. “You should not even be here. It’s over, isn’t it? Should you not be off selling everything you have and running?” 

Tom paled and stepped back. He struggled to find his words. “You never really did give a damn, now did you. Never really tried to help.” 

Sidney turned from him and shook his head. “I have done all I can for you. All you care about is Sanditon.”

Tom shook his head. “Don’t you wish to know who now owns over seventy percent?” he asked. 

Sidney shook his head and turned from his brother. “I am not in the mood for guessing games. You are on your own, Tom. Get your affairs in order.” he sighed. “But we will both be suffering the consequences of your initial actions, some far more undeservingly”. 

Tom blustered below him. “It’s Eliza. She bought out everyone, and now her representative is threatening an audit,” he said putting out his hat. “This would not have happened if you had not halted construction!” he shouted. 

Sidney slowed his step. 

“You are the only one that can talk her out of it.” Tom pleaded. 

Sidney turned his head. “You think I am going to grovel to that woman? You have no idea what I have just gone through, or what that woman has done in the last few weeks to put herself between me and my wife.” 

His brother came closer. Eyes wide. “Brother, without you, I am ruined.” 

“You ruined yourself.” Sidney countered coldly. “My wife almost died yesterday, and has only just barely woken.”

Tom’s mouth opened as if to speak but no words came. He had no idea. 

“Charlotte is miscarrying our first child, now as we speak and you come to me with this demand?” Sidney asked, choked with emotion. Tears misted his eyes as he said the words. “I know I owed you much once, but you ask far too much of me as repayment.” 

Tom paled, seeing how broken his brother was. How close to breaking he was himself but it was hard to empathize while his own world was crashing in on him. 

“You are the one who brought Mrs. Campion to Sanditon and tried to pimp me out like some common painted woman of the night. I was already a married man. You got what you wanted… she invested in Sanditon.” he said climbing the stair and leaving his brother silent below. “I am sorry it was not all you hoped it would be.” he threw lastly over his shoulder. 

After Sidney had gone out of sight Tom remembered Charlotte. “She will be alright?” he stuttered. “Charlotte?” 

Sidney did not answer. 

Lady Susan had been standing in the parlor overhearing the conversation with shallow breaths. It had been as she suspected and rumored from her sources. 

Wiping an errant tear from her eye she steeled herself of emotion as she knew it was better to hold one's feelings inside and not to show one's cards too soon. 

The conniving woman Mrs. Campion had for whatever reason decided to purchase the bulk share of the Sanditon project and she could imagine why at this point. 

Mrs. Campion had once told Charlotte that there was no point in joining a race unless she intended on winning it. At all costs, it seemed. But she had gotten clumsy with her impulsive act at the fox hunt.

With a bracing sigh, Lady Susan was glad to have already put a few of her plans into motion. It was going to make this a far more spectacular showdown. And all the more swift. 

Her nephew Lord Peasley should already be en route from London and due to arrive before long.

Approaching a servant she whispered for them to call for Mr. Brochurst her private lawyer. Also the private lawyer of half the Beau Monde and a popular regular among the social circles. She required his assistance and luckily he was on the green attending a brisk walk with the gentlemen for the popular men's sporting activities. 

She could hear Mr. Tom Parker curse as he left the Foyer without the desired results he wished. 

“Mr. Tom Parker?” she said causing him to stop at the door. “Do you have your documents on your person?” she asked. 

Tom turned confused. 

“Lady Worcester?” he said at the open doors. “Documents?” 

She nodded. “Yes, I imagine the pertinent ones to the investments of Sanditon. I am going to need all of those.” 

He blinked confused and scrambled. “The investments?” he asked. 

She sighed and looked up. “Please don’t play coy with me,” she said simply. 

“Oh yes,” and ran to his carriage. “Just one moment.” 

She smiled and looked around wanting to be sure none were observing them. 

“Hush,” she said as he hastily ran them to her. 

“Are you…?” he asked. 

She smiled sweetly. “Please just leave them with me. Go back to Bradford Place and perhaps even Sanditon and do as your brother instructed and start liquidating what you can. It would probably be wise in the end. You have many debts.” 

“Is, well…are….you.?” he could not manage a sentence and so she smiled again.

“Thank you, Mr. Parker. It has been a trying day for all. I can only promise to see what I can do for Sanditon. Nothing more.” 

His shoulders dropped measurably and nodded. “Thank you, Lady Worcester.”

——

It did not take long for her and her lawyer to find all the information Tom had and she was ready for action. 

Coming to the front steps Lady Susan and her Lawyer met Mrs. Campion two hours later, where the woman was beaming and thanking her own representatives. 

“I see it has all been made official.” Lady Susan said brightly. 

Mrs. Campion turned and smiled. “What official?” 

Susan smiled. “Why, the share majority of Sanditon, that is what.” 

Mrs. Campion shrugged. “I suppose it was going to come out sooner or later.” 

“Why?” Lady Susan asked. 

Mrs. Campion blinked. “Because it is a sound investment I believe. You can toast me later.” 

“Why would I do that?” Lady Susan laughed. “You know nothing of business and building and development is a highly risky and not to mention relatively new venture.” 

Mrs. Campion's face fell. “Excuse me?” she asked. “I purchased it all for fractions of what it is worth. I do think I did very well for myself.” she smiled. “I imagine grander regattas with great regal clippers and racing stallions on the beach. I can make that happen.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “And yet, somehow, that will not have the same charm that the last regatta had. Or the intimacy.” she laughed. 

Mrs. Campion shrugged. “That is just one opinion.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “Indeed. But those grand ideas take a king's ransom to put on. I know. The prince regent has put on events such as those. I am afraid you will be broke in a single season.” she giggled. “And besides those are more suited for Brighton.” 

The woman frowned and smiled at her lawyers. “I am sure you should be on your way.” eager for the conversation to not be heard by bystanders any longer. 

“No, they should come in.” Lady Susan smiled sweetly now and looked to her men. “I invite you to come and discuss the error of your ways Mrs. Campion. And what you can do to mitigate your losses.” 

Mrs. Campion shook her head. “I don’t wish to discuss my business with you. I have received very sound counsel. They were just leaving.”

Lady Susan looked to her left. To a man of the peerage. “Lord Grantham, kindly send for the stable boy.” 

Mrs. Campion suddenly paled at the mention of a stable boy being fetched. 

Ever composed Lady Susan clasped her hands. “Come, let us go into the parlor. You will not wish this overheard by the wrong ears, after all, that is part of my offer of mitigation of losses.” she reasoned softly. 

Mrs. Campion turned her heel and passed through the larger parlor through to another even smaller one in the corner of the house. 

“Here we are. We should not be set upon.” Lady Susan said sitting down cheerfully. 

Mrs. Campion remained standing. 

“Oh do sit, It will be a tedious conversation for you despite the drama of it all,” she said with a roll of her eyes. 

Mrs. Campion who had just three minutes before felt like she had won some great prize now felt on unsure ground. 

The gentlemen settled around not saying a word. Knowing it was the women who ruled the scene and were merely tools in the maneuvering of this situation. 

“You were sloppy Mrs. Campion.” 

She looked about to deny the accusation but then it was her eyes that went cold. 

“At long last, I found the chink in your armor.” Knowing her smile put the woman on edge. 

Mrs. Campion shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“Do you think a stablehand silence is that cheap?” Lady Susan scoffed, “Not when faced with a hangman's noose.”

Mrs. Campions back stiffened. “Are you implying-“ 

Lady Susan put up her hand. “I am not implying, I am accusing you with a witness, and evidence. The horse was sabotaged and you have hardly acted genuinely concerned.” 

Mrs. Campion sighed. “Well, I have not cared for the girl, that is true, but as to proof-“ 

Lady Susan put up her hand. “Again. I have witness including myself, and there is little to stop me from telling our friends, many of which are still here….Right through there. I will tell them all what you have done, and you can go on trial under the eye of social justice which can be far harsher than the actual justice system I can assure you of that. And they don’t need proof. They just need the whisperings of a trusted figure of society. And my dear Mrs. Campion, who is more trusted than me?” she asked. 

The woman was silent. 

“Or I could tell Mr. Sidney Parker and he could kill you himself,” Lady Susan added with a final drop in the bucket. “But I rather like him for the sake of Charlotte.”

She paled at that statement. 

“So, you are offering me some other option?” Mrs. Campion finally asked. 

Lady Susan nodded. “Yes, but I want to hear it from you why. Why did you do it? Was it impulse?” 

Rolling her eyes she stood stubbornly. “I lost two thousand pounds in that stupid shooting wager,” she said through gritted teeth.

Lady Susan nodded. “I saw you whispering to the stable boy.” 

Mrs. Campion shook her head not wishing to say another word on it. “What is it you want?” 

Lady Susan smiled. “You will be signing over your shares of the investment of Sanditon to me.” 

“You mean you will buy them.” Mrs. Campion countered. 

Lady Susan shook her head. “No, you will give them all to me. You will still be exceedingly rich considering you said your purchase was far less than it was worth,” she asked. 

The woman shook her head. “It’s still worth nearly half my fortune.” 

“Well, that is good to hear there is still over half left.” Lady Susan smiled at her lawyer. “You were going to waste nearly half your fortune on something you wanted to use to control a man who did not love you. Or punish him, I am not sure which.” Lady Susan said cocking her head.

Sitting down in a huff she sighed not answering her. “And if I agree, this will not leave the room?” she asked instead.

Lady Susan nodded and mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. 

Mrs. Campion looked to her men behind her and told them to draw up the papers. Within twenty minutes the necessary papers had been signed over to Lady Susan. 

“Finished?” Mrs. Campion said with a cold and irritable face just as the sounds of a carriage pulled up. 

“Ah, actually no…There will be one more thing for my silence,” she said gravely. 

Mrs. Campion huffed. “What now? I have done everything you asked.” 

“My nephew is broke and is in want of a wife, and you are so lovely. And I so often like to help people.” Lady Susan smiled warmly as she came closer to the woman.

Mrs. Campion eyed her suspiciously. 

“Lord Peasley, I am not sure you have had the opportunity to meet him. He is not disagreeable to look at, but he requires coin.” she laughed. 

Mrs. Campion huffed. 

“You will need to marry him, and I have already taken the liberty of having your things packed while we were settling affairs.” she smiled. “My nephew has just arrived and intends to whisk you off on your own romantic elopement,” she said wrapping her arm around her as they walked to the foyer. “After all, I would never expose the family to scandal, now would I?” she asked. “And we will then be family.” she squeezed her. “How is that for assurance?” 

Mrs. Campion looked up and felt her world spin. She had lost control of her life with the stroke of a few pens. But yet understood the sense of it all. 

Her bonnet was placed on her head for her, as was her spencer, and bundled into the carriage before she could mutter a protest. 

Lady Susan held the papers to the Parker fortune in her hands and the future and she smiled. The stupid woman had made it too easy in the end.

——  
Mrs. Campion sat as straight as she could in the corner of the fancy carriage, her bonnet askew, and looked at the strangely well-dressed man before him.

He wore powder on his face to hide what she assumed were some pockmarks but otherwise handsome features. 

“So, the wealthy Mrs. Campion.” he smiled. “Well…well… At least you are attractive.” he said with a quirked brow.

She looked at him sourly. 

He offered her some drink. “It will make you sleep, I am sure you will not wish to talk.” he chuckled. “We will have enough time to become acquainted after the marriage on the way to the estate in Lincolnshire. 

She looked at him astounded. “Estate in Lincolnshire?” 

He nodded. “Yes, that is where my vast estates are,” he said holding his beautiful cane. 

She frowned finding his appearance in stark contrast to how Lady Susan had described him. 

“I hope you will like them,” he said with a happy little giggle. “Oh, what luck.” 

She looked at him confused and then back at the house they were leaving as she tried to register the extreme changed that had happened. All because she had wanted to trip up the silly girl that Sidney had married. 

She had not wanted to kill her or cause real severe injury, but it had crossed her mind. Though she doubted it. 

No, she had intended something far less severe, something she could have openly japed at. But it had been too much. Even she had realized that. She had made a blunder of it all. 

As Lady Susan had said. She had been sloppy. 

Lady Susan had outplayed and by far out mastered her, and she feared there was still more to find to this bargain she had made. 

With a sigh, she folded her hand. Well… he was a lord, she would now be a lady. Lady Peasley. That was a step up, even if it was a loss in her fortunes. 

She needed to look on the bright side of the situation. When she would be next in London, she would be in the inner sanctum more. Closer than ever. 

She smiled thinking that it not so bad the deal she had made. In-fact, her husband looked to be the drinking and unhealthy sort. Perhaps he too would not live long and she would still be Lady Peasley. 

With a small smile, she imagined her future. No, she gambled and perhaps she made a good move after all. 

——

Sidney sat outside the room in the long gallery hallway that evening as tears fell from his eyes. His clothes were rumpled, and his vest was askew. 

“Mr. Parker?” Lady Susan asked approaching quietly in her way. 

Sidney startled. “Oh, Lady Worcester, I am poor company.” he sighed wiping his eyes hastily.

“She is worse?” she asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, and yes…” he sighed. “She-“ he could not speak a moment as he stood and turned away pacing a moment. “She will have a long recovery, and I will probably need to leave before she is well,” he said shaking his head. “And I am just here feeling sorry for myself.” 

The gentle grin that graced her face calmed him. “We all have our moments I am afraid.”

He nodded. “I had some further troubling news tonight that might have sent me over the edge. Subsequently, I have not been able to think to send for her family.” he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have not met her father, but I imagine when he meets me he will not be impressed with my care of her.”

She approached and nodded. “You have been a fine husband, under unusual circumstances. Perhaps you should be direct and honest with him.” 

He looked up and his eyes searched hers for any ‘put on kindly’ tone. But there was only honesty. 

Sidney nodded. “It would paint Tom, my brother in a very ill light,” he said softly. “May give her parents much agony over sending her with them.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “Come, we need to discuss some matters, and the hall is no place for the conversation.” she looked to the bedroom. “I trust Charlotte is asleep?” 

He nodded. “Yes.” 

“Then come, let us have a drink and you can put many fears to rest tonight once and for all,” she said. 

He stood with a reluctant sigh, but Lady Worcester was not a woman to deny a command. 

——

Holding the shares in his hand Sidney’s hand shook. “How?” 

Lady Susan put her sherry down. “Sign first, I will answer later.” 

Sidney blinked and set his signature to paper with a quavery scrawl. 

“And you want nothing for it?” he shook his head aghast. 

Lady Susan shrugged. “Oh, I have received much out of it this. But I need not keep the shares of Sanditon nor do I have the desire for them. Or anything that impacts the future of the Parker family.” she smiled. “It is now a sole proprietor venture, Is it not?” she asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “Well, no… It would be the Parker Brothers venture now…” he blinked. “Please explain how this came to be?” 

Lady Susan picked up her glass again. “Only if you promise to keep it out of the gossips circle.” she smiled. 

He nodded. 

“Mrs. Campion purchased everything either to ruin you or to manipulate you. I honestly don’t know which.” she sipped her glass. “But she grew clumsy when she over wagered when our Charlotte hit four plates when nearly everyone was betting against her. She was angry and paid a stablehand to sabotage the horse.” 

Sidney sat a moment as the information computed, but then he set his drink aside and went to the door. 

“Where are you going, Mr. Parker?” she said. 

“To kill her.” his voice dark. 

Lady Susan shook her head. “She is not here.” she scoffed. “Did I not tell you I got something out of this? She is off to Scotland to marry my impoverished nephew.” she giggled, “Who likes the more masculine sex and would demand she stay in the country, so you will not see her again. I promise you that.” 

He turned and blinked. “She agreed to all that?” 

Lady Susan shrugged. “Well, she had no choice. She was caught red-handed. And she does not know all that much about my nephew. She has not long been in London to know. And Lord Peasley will know to do his duty, so she will soon be busy regardless of his preferences.” 

Sidney still longed to wrap his hands around the woman’s throat now that he knew the true limits of her soul. To imagine he had once thought himself in love with a creature such as her. 

“We have lost a child because of that woman,” he said softly. 

Lady Susan nodded bitterly. “And in a strange way, her evil cruel act has been the key to your future. Had she not done it she would have ruined you and made the next years of yours and Charlotte’s lives miserable,” she said picking up the papers that were now sighed and notarized by the lawyer. “You are free Mr. Parker, and freedom often has a cost, and you and Charlotte have paid enough in my humble estimation.” 

He stopped and shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.” 

She handed them over. “Say nothing. Go to your wife. Sleep beside her. Allow me to write to her family and I shall speak of her as Charlotte and not Mrs. Parker. When her father arrives here we can tell him together of her marital condition. I will be here with you if you wish. Or not, if you prefer the privacy of course.” 

He nodded. “I thank you. I can’t begin…” he closed his eyes. “I don’t-“ 

She put up her hand. “Sleep, Mr. Parker… You look utterly exhausted.”

He nodded feeling the weight lift from his shoulders as he rose the stair.

Finding his wife sleeping in the same position as he had left he told the maid she could leave. He stretched out alongside her on the wide bed. 

As he settled he put his hand on her thigh knowing it was not injured. 

“Where did you go?” she asked. “Groggily.”

He rubbed her. “Lady Susan had some news, I am too tired to talk now,” he whispered. “Go to sleep.” 

She licked her lips. “Thirsty,” she whispered. 

Moving to help he went to the cup and metal tubing that the doctor had given them to use. 

She took it into her try lips. 

“Better?” he asked brightly. 

“Something has happened?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Wonderful news.”

She put her hand on her belly. “The baby?” 

He swallowed hard and shook his head. “No,” 

She sighed. “I know you wanted to wait.” 

He frowned and forgot for a moment the wonderful news. “What are you talking about?” 

She licked her lips. “The night you came home drunk.” she winced. “More water.” 

He moved the cup to her mouth. “I remember, the next day you were very angry with me. What did I say?” 

She gulped again and sighed. “You were angry I called you Mr. Parker and not Sidney, and you promised not to touch me. Didn’t want a child.” 

He took the cup and shook his head. “I have no memory of saying that but Charlotte I very much want children,” he told her. “I wanted this child.”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Then why would you have said something like that?” 

He put the cup aside and scratched his unshaven jaw. “Well… I was afraid we were not going to make the deadline and I was going to leave you financially destitute and carrying our first… and I didn’t want to miss it. I did not want to miss the birth of my first child. Before this, I thought that was the worst thing I could think of.” 

She blinked. “And now?” 

He shook his head. “I would prefer to have a child. I have been wondering since I knew of it if it had been a girl or a boy.” 

Her breath hitched as tears streamed down her face. “So you don’t regret our marriage?” she asked. 

He looked at her utterly confused. “Regret? Whatever can you mean by this notion Charlotte?” he struggled to speak. “You mentioned it earlier.” 

She swallowed. 

“I love you Charlotte, I have never loved any woman like this. I thought I knew love before, but that wasn’t this,” he said. 

Her eyes closed as she sighed.

“Do you regret it?” he asked. Fear choked him. 

Her eyes looked up at him. “Many times,” she whispered. “But I can be of a fickle temperament.” she said tearfully. “these weeks have been the most trying of my life.” 

He nodded. “I quite agree. I too am fickle at times,” he said feeling his shoulders drop. “But I haven’t regretted marrying you. Even if I was just trying to be a gentleman.” 

“I love you very much Sidney Parker,” she said as her fingers weakly reached for his. “And I am hoping to be able to let you go when you leave,” she said as her voice shook. 

He smiled, tears in his own eyes. “Well then dear wife, this was the news I had to share. I will not need to leave you,” he whispered. “Not now, not ever if you wish it.” 

She frowned confused. “Did you get an investor?” she asked. 

He smiled and shook his head. “Not exactly. It is far more nuanced than all that,” he whispered. “And it is best you do not know all the details,” he whispered. “At least not while you recover,” he said softly. “Oh that I will not be deterred.” his hand stroked hers. “But we will have insurance before the end of the week and all will be well in Sanditon. The building will resume as soon as possible and that venture is saved. 

Charlotte sighed relieved. “Lady Denham must be relieved.” 

Sidney laughed. “I imagine not. She sold her share.” he leaned over and kissed her. “Worry not. I will tell you all only once you have recovered more,” he said calmly. “Just know all is well in hand.”

——

A week later- 

Lady Susan smiled with a witty frown as a rumpled Alison Heywood stood before her. Sidney had the good grace to bathe and shave before the meeting but was currently not present. Charlotte was in a great deal of pain on account of her refusal of any pain medications on account of its addictive qualities. She would have none of it. 

As a result, her husband was on edge and at her beck and call. 

“How is my sister?” the girl asked. 

Lady Susan winced. “She is much improved, though it does not seem that way at the precise moment. She is refusing all pain medications for fear she will become dependent on it.” 

The girl nodded. Her hair hung down much like Charlotte wore when Lady Susan met her weeks before. 

Suddenly the doors opened behind them and Sidney entered. 

“Ah Mr. Parker, how is she?” Lady Susan asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “Why is not Mr. Heywood here?” he asked looking stricken. “I was expecting Mr. Heywood.” His eyes lighted upon a girl familiar in looks to his wife that he was sure it must be a sister. 

Lady Susan smiled calmly. “Come, have a cup of tea, Alison is it?” She asked. “I have heard much about you already from your sister.” 

“Have you, your ladyship?” she asked. “We have received no letter from Charlotte in weeks,” she said. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, I am afraid that is in many regards due to mine or the fault of my family and the drama’s that have surrounded Sanditon,” he answered. “Miss Heywood, I am Mr. Sidney Parker.” he smiled. 

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know about you,” she said. 

He swallowed hard and nodded. “I am sure you are missing a few chapters if you have not heard from her in weeks. And those you received were not glowing entries I am sure,” he said with an attempt at levity. 

The girl shrugged. “Charlotte often tries to find the good in people, so when she can’t I often believe her.” 

Lady Susan covered her mouth with her fan to shield her amused smile. “Mr. Parker, I knew you and our dear Charlotte started off rocky, but it seems you did not make a fair impression on your wife when you first met at all.” 

The girl's mouth dropped. “Wife? I do not believe it. Charlotte would only marry for love.” 

He nodded. “She did marry for love. First and foremost the love of her family.” he sighed. “It was complicated.” he winced. “But entirely accidental and though seemingly improper it wasn’t but I made her my wife while trying to save my ward from a most unwanted match across the border in Scotland. There I made her my wife. It is a very long story and best not said in a letter.” he said with some restrained frustration.

The girl blinked astounded. “Father should be here,” she whispered. “The letter said she was grievously injured but he could not be spared despite his great concern. Since Lady Worcester assured she would live so they decided to send only me.” she shook her head. 

Sidney nodded. “I will go.” he nodded. “Charlotte has been so concerned that he does not learn through letter about our marriage and I will not let him. I will see that he is told myself.” 

Lady Susan could see the strain on his face and assumed it was the pain of his wife he could no longer endure watching. He needed to accomplish something for her and sitting beside her was taking its toll on him. 

“It has been very nice to meet you, Miss Heywood,” he said with a stiff smile. “I hope to know you better under more tranquil and happy circumstances when I return,” he said. “Please excuse me.” With that, he left the room. 

“You look tired, first you should have a cup of tea to fortify yourself and allow them their goodbye’s.” Lady Susan said pouring the tea. 

“Is he a good man?” she asked abruptly. 

Susan laughed. “Directness must be a Heywood trait,” she said as the girl sat. 

“Apologies,” she said blushing. “He just seems so imposing, and stern. Charlotte said such awful things about him to me in her letters. How could she marry him? I thought she liked that Mr. Stringer.” the young girl asked. 

Lady Susan smiled. “Because she fell in love with Mr. Parker between their quarrels.” she smiled. “Besides, he is not all that bad. He is quite charming once you get to know him. He has had a trying time of it, I believe.” she said sipping her tea. “I do hope Charlotte did not talk so in her letters to your parents.” 

Alison shrugged. “Well, we shared the letters amongst all of us. They may not be very happy she has made such a match.” 

Lady Susan smiled. “Well, they should very soon come to, because it is a love match more deserving than I have ever seen before.” 

——

Coming to the room Sidney gathered his things. Crowe and Babers had brought them clothes and now he gathered his. 

“Where do you go?” Charlotte asked from her confined contraption on the bed. “Is my father here?”

He went to her side. “Your father has not come. It seems there have been some matters that held him there. Your sister Alison has come in his stead.” he said holding her hand. “I will be leaving,” he said. 

She blinked stiffly. Her relaxed state had gone since refusing the medications. “To Sanditon?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “No, Willingden.” he kissed her hand. “We will have been married two months next week and that will not do. But I could use some advice in facing your father.” he smiled. “Seems your sister already does not have the best opinion of me.” 

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Well no she would not. I told you I did not understand my feelings and you were always intent on vexing me so,” she said and a wave of pain crossed her features. 

He just held her hand as she squeezed it. “Just perhaps tell him you fell in love with my unguarded opinions. He will believe that.” 

Sidney leaned forward-leaning his chin on his hand close to her face. “But I did.” 

She smiled and rolled her eyes as she tried to bear the pain she was in. “It hurts so much.” she moaned. 

He nodded. “It is because you stopped taking the medicine too soon and it is causing you to shift too much. Won't you please, my love take just a little. If you get even the least addicted after I will lock you up and throw away the key.” 

She moaned. “Prey, no… Let me run among the grass,” she begged now tearful. “A week I have laid here.” She moaned. “I stink. I can't move. Please, do go. It is so hard to have you see me like this. This disgusting creature.”

He shook his head. “Your injuries are no small thing.” 

“Lady Susan wants to bring me to her home to have me looked after there,” she said still crying. “Should I accept?” 

He nodded. “She can offer more than we have at Bedford Place,” he said. 

“I don’t want you with me,” she said softly. 

He frowned. “Charlotte,” he said breathlessly. 

“When you go, I want you to stay gone for eight weeks,” she said. “We will write.” her eyes were decided. 

He shook his head. “No, I can't leave you like this. Marriage is for better or for worse.” his own tone was equally decided. 

She nodded. “It is, but I am not feeling strong enough right now. So new in our marriage. In our grief of the baby…Sanditon needs to get back on track again.”

He shook his head. “I can abide perhaps a week, to meet your family and check on the happenings in Sanditon but Charlotte, I am not leaving you to face this.” He took her good hand and kissed her wrist. “On this, I will not argue.” he smiled. “I don’t care if you smell, or are in a temper, or what every unpleasantness you have within you, don’t save it for someone else. I want all of it,” he said softly. 

She moaned. “Sidney,” she whispered. 

“Now come, take just a little,” he said spooning out just some medicine for her. 

Grudgingly she took just the smallest bit. 

“Come, come.” he coaxed, “Just a little more, it will hurt much less, and you will heal better.” he reasoned. 

She groaned. “Alison is here…” she sighed after swallowing. “She is going to be talking my ear off all night.” 

He smiled. “Not if you are asleep.” he kissed her, tasting the medicine on her lips. The effect would have some transfer he would not disagree with which would relax him on the ride away from her. 

“You will make it to Babington's wedding, will you not?” she asked. 

He nodded.

Charlotte smiled. “Give them my best.” 

He stroked her cheek. “Of course.” 

She nodded and she felt the relaxing effects of the medicine take over. “I did not think I could be so bothered by the loss of a child I barely knew was there,” she admitted now feeling more relaxed. 

He nodded. “I know what you mean. But it is more than that. We are fortunate to have your life. We must be glad for that first.” he laid beside her as now was the custom as they talked. “I will miss you,” he whispered. “I fear I will not write letters as they will be read to you instead of read privately.” he kissed her earlobe. 

“I can still use my hand and my eyes.” her voice said weakly now the medication was taking over. 

“Then I shall write every day, and tell you all about how I find Willingden and your family,” he said. “Now that things are well and enough settled we should also think of where you wish to spend your first Christmas with me,” he said leaning on his fist. 

“It won't be at Bradford place?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “Well, I won't be in as desperate need to fill coffers.” he smiled. “Of course we can stay for the London Season, it is rather a splendid affair, but I thought you would prefer either Sanditon or Willingden.” he offered. 

She blinked. “You would spend it away from London?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Yes, if it would make you happy.” he smiled. 

“Can I think about it?” she asked. “Maybe after I am healed?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Of course.” 

After more sweet kisses and a linger goodby he found himself off in their carriage with a heaviness he had never known. Life without her by his side was more difficult than he thought. The man gripped his caned lifting it a few times as if debating the act to hit the ceiling to signal the driver to turn around and go back but decided against it and pressed on. 

——

The carriage rolled precariously over the terrain in the area and Sidney realized that Tom had a habit of going too fast in his carriage. They all did. 

He hammered above him on the ceiling. 

“Slow down driver.” he cautioned not wishing to repeat his brother's folly and have another terrible accident, likely along the same route.   
His eyes gazed across the field up the hill to a group of children it looked like. They watched his carriage and wondered. 

Coming further down the lane they crossed a stone bridge and the carriage came to a halt and he smiled as he sat a moment. The sound of the creek was heard even from inside the carriage. As were the critters and beasts of the yard. 

Looking at the home he was struck with how tidy, and yes quaint it was but only for the times. For its day, the Tudor Manor house was once considered very grand. 

As he opened the door he stepped out and imagined her there, chasing after the chickens happily. Just as he conjured the image a child ran by. “Excuse me, mister.” 

“May I help you, Sir?” 

Sidney turned, a mite bewildered as his eyes lighted on an older man with a brown top hat and a dark brown overcoat. 

Not to be deterred by a surge of panic he smiled and turned more fully to face the man. 

“I am looking for Mr. John Heywood.” 

“Well you’ve come to the right place,” he said simply. “I be the man before you. Who might you be?”

Sidney smiled and stepped closer. “I am Mr. Sidney Parker.” 

Mr. Heywood nodded. “Oh yes, another one of the Parkers. I see,” he said looking at him. “You look nothing like Mr. Tom Parker.” 

Sidney nodded. “I suppose all of us Parkers have little physical resemblances,” he said feeling his nerves rise. 

“Shall we go inside? I expect you must have news of 'my' Charlotte.” he said gesturing to the house. 

Sidney swallowing thinking of how her father called her ‘his’ and pulled slightly at his collar and looked up at his driver and nodded. “

“Yes, well I do,” he said replying to her father's comment on having news of her. 

Mr. Heywood turned. “She hasn’t taken a turn. You don’t have the look of ill tidings about you,” he said squinting at him. “Nervous though,” he muttered. 

Sidney nodded. “I am sir,” he said. 

Mr. Heywood took off his hat while Sidney was not wearing his. He had taken it off while looking at the house. 

Children poked their heads in, and Sidney looked about for Charlotte’s mother. 

“Go one, find your mother.” Mr. Heywood said to one of the children. 

“Can I offer you a drink, sir?” Mr. Heywood asked. 

Sidney nodded. “I would like that very much. Thank you,” he said thinking it almost a requirement, for his mouth had gone nearly bone dry. 

“Ale for the man. He looks like he needs to calm his nerves.” he smiled with a knowing blink. 

Sidney wanted to laugh. The man was keen he was. 

Taking down half the cup he sighed and closed his eyes. “Sir, I should be here to ask you a very important question, honoring both you and her…” he started. “But in truth, I was not the most honorable man when I first met your daughter.”

Mr. Heywood’s face dropped and looked to the children and he motioned for them all to get on out of earshot. 

Once alone he stood. “Have you compromised my daughter?” he asked. His wife now entered. 

“Good heaven’s John, what an accusation!” Came Mrs. Heywood’d shocked voice. 

Sidney nodded. “I did, unintentionally and I offered nothing then,” he admitted. “Then there was the situation with my ward being kidnapped and Charlotte accidentally caused it… She and I were in a coach together all the way to Scotland for seven days.” He said. “Nothing happened. But I thought it best to marry her anyway. She did not wish it. But for her reputation, I felt it right.” 

Mr. Heywood frowned. “So you and Charlotte?” he asked. “Why am I only hearing of this now? When?” 

“July the 11th,” he answered simply. “You are only hearing of it now because she was not convinced the marriage need happen at all and it remained a marriage only on paper for a month and unannounced and remained a secret. I had a very difficult time convincing her both of its merits and my feelings for her. You see, there were many misunderstandings between us in the beginning.” he explained and noticed both of her parents moved to sit. 

“So, you love our daughter?” Mrs. Heywood asked having seen and heard something in his tone and posture. 

Sidney nodded. “Very much.” 

Her mother looked up. “How is she? The letter from Lady Worcester described a terrible accident.” 

Sidney nodded. “Charlotte is bed-bound and cannot move for fear her collar bone will not heal right, and she is deeply melancholy over a personal loss we suffered,” he said and his eyes welled. 

“Already?” her mother asked understanding clearly what he meant. 

Sidney nodded. 

Mr. Heywood blinked back the mist in his own eyes. “I am glad you came in person,” he said with a nod. “Stay for supper Mr. Parker,” he said simply. “We can put you up for the night. You should get to know the family, and us you. What you do, how you intend to keep my oldest girl. We are rather late at this part, but it will help if you put my mind at rest.” 

Sidney nodded. “I suppose I can do that better than I could two weeks ago.” he smiled. 

“That supposed to be a joke?” Mr. Heywood asked.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following (chapter 9) is not a real chapter but only an Epilogue.

Chapter 8

Mr. Crowe frowned as he entered the chamber of Mrs. Charlotte Parker. 

“Oh,” he said startled seeing an unfamiliar face. Not wearing the customary head covering of a maid. Her brown hair hanging down, wavy and without curls. Her chin sporting a familiar dimple. 

“Another Heywood, I presume?” he slurred despite his malt being well above water. He had only had a few pulls of brandy on the way there. 

The girl looked at his interruption disapprovingly. “Yes, I am Charlotte’s sister. And you are?” she demanded impatiently. 

Crowe smiled crookedly and looked her over in his overtly familiar way. “So how many of you Heywood girls are you?” 

The girl's brown eyes fired to life faster than her sisters and he smiled ruefully. 

“What do you do here sir?” she demanded and stood taller than Charlotte. “Sneaking into an injured woman’s bed-chamber? What kind of a gentleman would dare such a thing?” 

He rolled his eyes. “I was not sneaking. I knew a maid or someone would be sitting vigil. My friend Mr. Sidney Parker would not have it over wise.” ”

“You still have not answered,” she demanded. “Why are you here?” 

He leaned on the door frame with a flirtatious smile. “Well, I have brought a rather special book. Her husband asked me to comb all of London for a copy since he lost his and so I have done just as he bid me.” he wiggled the little blue leather-bound book. “See what a good samaritan I am?” 

She went to reach for it but he pulled it back. “Ah, manners young lady. Your sister has them in spades. Do you favor the club, or the hearts…perhaps diamonds?” 

She smiled as if unconvinced and grabbed it from him quickly. “I do not enjoy cards at all.” she dismissed. “And you Sir, strike me as a cad.” 

Crowe nodded and laughed. “I have my moments,” he said looking at her as she opened the book. 

“Heraclitus?” she rolled her eyes. “Not even a novel.” 

Crowe shrugged. “Seems to be something both her and Sidney like.” 

“You are Mr. Sidney Parker's friend?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Yes, and best man of Lord Babington,” he said with a grin. “Still think I am such a cad?” 

She frowned and shook her head. “You seem a perplexing man indeed Mr….” 

“Mr. Francis Crowe, at your service, Miss Heywood,” he said. 

“I have only just barely met my brother-in-law and have no character understanding of this Lord Babington to give any elevation to this connection. Are you a friend of Lady Worcester?” she asked. 

Her discerning eyes filled him with a sense of anxiety and he lost his relaxed posture and straightened himself. 

“Well, I am also a friend of your sister,” he said suddenly defensive, losing his natural sense of charm and purpose now she had the book. 

The girl's left brow quirked up doubtful. “I highly doubt that.” 

Crowe found himself smile and look down at the challenge. She looked young. Of a similar age to her sister. 

“Just ask her. I am sure she will tell you I am at the very least a cheeky fellow.” he smiled.   
“Now, I suppose I must be off, do tell me she is doing better?” he asked. “I will see her husband on the morrow and I know he will be demanding to know how she fare’s.” 

The girl frowned. “I am sure she does not truly want her husband to know how she really is.” 

“Misses him that much?” he smiled with a knowing grin. “They were getting rather cozy before the accident. I am sure that will bring him to her all the faster.” 

The furious expression that fell signaled again he had made a misstep and he quickly turned on his heel to hear the door close behind him. 

——

“Who was that Alison?” Charlotte asked weakly. 

Her sister turned. “The man said he was a Mr. Crowe. Claimed to be a friend, but I doubt that.” 

She laughed. “Oh, but he is. He bought us our wedding rings,” she said and fingered. 

“I suppose I must have stepped wrong in shooing him away, did I?” she asked. 

Charlotte blinked. “Well that depends, was he rude?” 

Alison came closer. “A little. His manners were cruder than anything else.” She said sitting down and opening the book. “He brought you this. Looks like something father would pour-over.” 

Charlotte wanted to sit up. The lovely blue color beckoned. “What is it? Why did he bring me a book?” 

Alison flipped the page. “Said your husband bid him find him a copy for you.” 

Charlotte sighed frustrated. “What is it Ali,” she demanded. 

“Heraclitus,” she said with a roll of the eye. “Why couldn’t it be a novel?” 

Charlotte smiled. “Because both Sidney and I share a love for Herecletus.”

Alison looked up from the book with her sarcastic eyes with a sigh. “Of course you do.” 

——

Sidney smiled stiffly as he stood beside Lord Babington. 

“You said he would make a fine best man,” Babington commented concerned. Dressed in his finest and ready for the walk to the church. 

Sidney shrugged. “And so I did,” he said. “And if he proves unworthy, here I stand ready for duty.” 

Babington nodded nervously. “Lucky that.” 

As if on cue a dark carriage rounded the corner with the window down. “Dour lot the both of you.” Crowe’s voice launched out of the open space. “You two don’t give the vocation much good press by the looks of your severe faces.” 

Lord Babington glared at him. “I would seem more relaxed if my best man were not late.” 

Crowe hopped from the carriage with a flourish. “Well our dear Mr. Parker will be appreciative of the reasons for my tardiness. I found that blasted book he sent me on a fool's errand for. In a drab little obscure bookshop in Cheapside. Of course, it would be there,” he muttered as the mist dirt from the road fell. “In the last part of London, I would dane to look.” 

Babington scoffed. “Isn’t that always the case?” 

“So you saw Charlotte?” Sidney asked his smoke in his hand. 

Crowe nodded. “She has a new keeper. A sister.” his voice was higher pitched. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, yes, Alison,” he muttered. “My wife, how is my wife?” impatience could have been his middle name. 

Crowe frowned. “Patience my dear man. She was not awake when I saw her, but she was well enough,” he said. “I gave the Heywood girl the book and was given the shove off I was.” 

Lord Babington donned his top hat. “Good thing too, because it is time we were off to the church, gentlemen,” he said checking his pocket watch. 

Sidney cursed and nodded as they followed the groom. “She was well wasn’t she?” he asked Crowe. 

His friend shifted his head this way and that way in such a noncommittal way that Sidney swore. 

“Crowe, so help me,” he warned. 

“Look, friend…She has suffered a loss,” he said. “She is being moved today or tomorrow to Lady Susan’s London house. I believe she misses you but dreads your return.” 

Sidney felt his stomach drop at that awful comment. “She said as much to me. Asking me to stay away. Not wanting me to see her like that.” 

Crowe nodded. “I don’t blame her. It is bloody awful.” He tipped his flask back just a little. 

Sidney shook his head. “I don’t care. I just want to be there.” 

Crowe nodded. “Then be there. You are her husband after-all. She took a vow to put up with you, did she not?” he chortled as he tipped a flask back. “I confess, that is the part of marriage that tempts me.” 

——

Sidney stood stiffly in the church for the first time in the same vicinity as Lady Denham. 

She didn’t yet pay him any mind as everyone watched the couple marry. 

Looking around longed for Charlotte to be beside him. To hold her hand while he imaged the proper words before an ordained priest instead of the rushed anvil vows across the border that meant little to either of them at the time. 

Marriage had brought back the sentimental nature of his youth. The romantic part of him he once thought dead. 

Now as he listened he wished he could have said such things to her under different circumstances. From where he stood he felt tears enter his eyes and he found it an embarrassment to have the guests looking at him and not the marrying couple. 

What a spectacle he was making of himself he thought bitterly as he wiped at himself. 

“Good lord, what has come over Mr. Sidney Parker?” Came one of the Beaufort voices across the pew. 

“He must be upset about Miss Heywood-“ the other put up her hand. “I mean, his Mrs. Parker.” they giggled. 

“She musn’t be very injured for him to be here.” the other whispered. “If he was so very in love he would not have left her side. Or she must not be so very hurt.” 

“He cries, Phillida, I would bet my red ribbon he loves her,” she whispered. 

He winced internally. 

“All gathered today in the sight of friends, family, and God-“ the Reverend Hankins began. 

Georgiana leaned in close. “I would be very cross at you if I were not already well aware of all that you have been up against,” she said coldly beside him. 

He glanced at her. “Oh,” he whispered under his breath. 

She nodded. “Yes.” her voice cut. “You could have left more than a scribbled letter.”

He nodded. “I was under a lot of pressure, and I wished more time with my new wife.” 

Georgiana turned her eyes at him and her brows rose. “Really, Sidney. We are in a church.” 

He nodded. “Yes, so we are. So I should be honest.” 

Mrs. Griffiths eyed Georgiana with a censoring glare. 

“You said you would get me out of here,” she said. 

He nodded. “You wish to leave?” he asked. 

She nodded. Her brows relaxed. “Very much.” 

Nodding he smiled. “Well, I think Bedford Place would be happy to receive you. Charlotte’s sister will also be staying with us I believe for some time,” he whispered. “You will have no need of a governess or a jailer as you call her.” he smiled. 

She frowned. “When?” she asked, fully distracted from the nuptials of the couple before them. The act not of any interest to her considering her more recent heartache. 

Sidney’s teeth gnashed. “Charlotte is still recovering, and I am not sure when she will be home,” he said. 

Georgiana looked at him. “She is not there!” her mouth distracted from the ceremony and the guests all turned. 

Sidney frowned and her seriously and refocused ahead. “She almost died.”

Her eyes looked at his profile glaringly. “Then why are you here?” 

He cursed under his breath and silently sent his apologies up to the almighty. “Can we talk about this some other time?” he asked. 

She pursed her lips and shifted them in thought as she again looked ahead. “I suppose. But I will have an answer. She is my friend.” 

He nodded. “Of course. I shall report for interrogation later.” 

Mrs. Griffiths was now looking at him to put an end to the rude conversation which he was trying. With a nod, he sighed impatiently and looked ahead to the bride and groom. 

Their day was most happy, but his was most conflicting. 

——

Once sufficiently satisfied with the explanation Sidney was able to pull away from Georgiana and congratulate the happy couple. 

But as he turned he found Lady Denham. “How have you enjoyed the festivities, Mr. Paker, being denied a proper wedding yourself?” 

Sidney looked around. “Very well done your ladyship,” he said with a curt nod. “It is a most perfect affair I will grant you.”

“I confess, I am surprised at you…You dane to show your face here in Sanditon where you failed us so utterly,” she asked. `

His eyes closed as he tried to reign in his irritation. 

“Oh yes, my failures must be many by your estimation,” he said. 

She shook her head. “Had I known the depths you and Miss Heywood would go to secure financing I would have sold off my shares the first time those men came knocking.” she clucked her tongue unamused. “They offered more the first time,” she muttered. 

Sidney winced. “Mrs. Parker now if you please,” he said with an impatient sigh. 

Her eyes rolled as did her hat as it moved. “Oh yes, yes, and I heard she suffered a mishap. I am sure she is quite alright. Sturdy, resourceful girl she and all…” 

Sidney shook his head. “No she is not,” he answered honestly. “She was nearly murdered by the person you sold your shares,” he said cooly. “Or were you not aware?” 

“I would not have sold the shares off at all, but I wished to spare my own health the drama of pursuing your family in the courts and seeing Mrs. Mary Parker destitute.” she shook her head with emotion. “No. I took the financial hit, rather than have such on my conscience.” 

He nodded. “Looking at it from where you stand I suppose that did seem a reasonable option.” he looked about. “But you did still sell them at a loss, and for that, I think that an unfortunate misstep as was your choice of purchaser.” 

The woman shook her head. “But I have no idea who purchased them. It was a proxy,” she said flicking her fan out, confused. 

He nodded. “Well, perhaps you should pay more attention to whom you do business with in the future. You will come out better for it,” he said putting his drink aside as the cool breeze filled the marquee. 

“I don’t understand these riddles you speak Mr. Sidney Parker,” she said. “I was told you and your wife were engaging in wild wagers and for you, engaging in sport unbecoming of a gentleman, what choice did I have?” her accusation dripped in condemnation. 

Sidney nodded. “Indeed, rumors would sound damning to your ears. But on the part of Charlotte, she never wagered money belonging to Sanditon, but only funds belonging to Lady Worcester at Lady Worcester's insistence for her own entertainments. And what Lady Worcester wants, it seems she gets.” he nodded sharply. “As to my activities, pugilism is a gentlemen’s activity and I only engaged in it through desperation to secure your investment which you lost when you sold off your share for one fourth it’s worth.” 

She frowned at his intimate knowledge of the figures of the sale. He should not have any knowledge of. 

“You were taken for a ride Lady Denham,” he said simply. “In many respects we all were. But you lost much.” 

She blinked piecing it together. “And you, so the Parkers are ruined? Have you too been cleaned out? I have heard of the carts of things being sold off from Trafalgar house.” she asked pointedly. 

Sidney blinked and looked at her and smiled. “We should be, but through a tragic twist in fate we are not.” he sighed heavily. Explaining the outcome was not a pleasure and not an ounce of gloating could be found in his eyes. “You lost faith in the Parker name,” he nodded. “That I understand. But Charlotte?” he shook his head. “She has been nothing but the image of virtue.” 

She scoffed. “Besides running off with you to Scotland?” 

He ground his teeth. “You listened to gossip. We did all you required, but that was not enough.” 

Her eyes regarded him seriously as she remained silent. 

Disengaging eyes roved the gathering party of guests and happy faces while they stood as serious figures among the lazy people picking up drinks, and plates for edible delights. 

“Now and the building has restarted, all proper insurance has been filed, contracts are being signed daily. Next season is going to be very promising,” he said with a forced smile. “The future is bright for Sanditon again.” 

“How would you know?” the old woman asked. “You should be off to the West Indies soon, and your bother to debtors prison, or hanging his head in shame,” she said with disgust. 

Sidney shook his head. “I am the prime investor, Tom second, and Arthur third. Three bothers, no banks. No external debts. Well, besides Tom’s personal debts… but those have not been called yet.” 

Her mouth opened. “Impossible,” she demanded. “You, you must have,-“ she blustered. “You must have -“ she fanned herself and went to brace herself on the table. 

He went to steady her. 

“Lady Denham…” he whispered. “I assure you, I did not purchase the shares…” he whispered. “They were given to me,” he said. 

Esther came forward. “Are you well, aunt?” 

“I need to go inside. The air is too hot,” she muttered. “Did you hear what Mr. Parker just said?” she turned aghast at him and then weakened. 

“Come aunt, let us to the house,” Esther said concerned and looked to her new husband who helped. 

Sidney just sighed and took another drink to drown his conflicted emotions. 

Entering Trafalgar's house that late afternoon he found Tom at his desk. The house was in disarray and in some respects empty of much of the fine furnishing. Though many chairs remained. As did some of the tables. As if they were the main holdouts. 

“Sidney?” he said. 

Sidney’s posture relaxed. “Yes, Tom.” he blinked. 

Papers scattered everywhere and he sighed. He knew Charlotte had taken such care just a month before to have it well chronicled. 

“Charlotte, is she?” Tom whispered. 

Sidney looked down. “She lives.” 

Mary entered. “Sidney,” she greeted and hugged him. “How is Charlotte?” she begged to know. “I was going to leave but then Tom was afraid bailiffs would find us first in London. I wanted to come.” 

Sidney looked around and noticed many nice things had been sold. 

“Bailiffs won't be coming.” he looked around to half their things having been sold off. “When I said live within your means, I didn’t mean…” he looked around him.

Tom circled his desk. “Sidney, what do you mean?” his eyes were wide. “It’s not the constable instead of the Bailiffs. There aren’t criminal charges proceeding?” he quailed. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, we are all safe. Better than that.” his shoulders dropped despite the good news. 

The attitude of his mannerisms did not convey joy so both Mary and Tom still felt fear coil inside them. 

“You must understand it came at a rather hard personal cost to myself and my wife.” Sidney started to explain. “But you must not know all the details at this time, or perhaps ever.” he cleared his throat. “Gossip has caused enough trouble.”

Mary’s eyes were soft. “Sidney, how is Charlotte?” she asked again. “Tom said she lost might have lost a child?” she ventured tenderly. “And so early?” 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, we have lost a child, and she very nearly her life.” he looked at Tom. “But we will recover,” he said with a clipped tone not wishing to dwell openly on the more than aching subject. 

Tom nodded. “Good to hear. Good to hear.” 

Mary wiped at a tear. “So soon after you had decided to-“ she stopped, realizing that she was belaboring an inappropriate topic. “Apologies. You must be heartbroken over it.” 

He nodded and ground his teeth. He moved his head to the left slightly and looked away. 

He hesitated but then spoke. His voice thick with emotion. “I wanted to assure you that as you see the building has resumed in the last days. I have Mr. Stringer overseeing the work, and for now, I want you Tom to devote yourself again to your family,” he said. “And no more expenditures besides perhaps some of your furnishings again… but only some. Wait for income to come in again.” 

Tom blustered and shook his head. “I don’t understand.” 

Sidney sighed. “I have no wish to explain it. I wish to go to my wife. All you need understand is no one is coming after you.” he shook his head. “For now at least. As to your other debts, see that you keep a mind to not gather more and see that they do not get out of hand ever again. We have a town to build.” 

Tom clapped his hands together. “Oh Sidney, you must have convinced Dear Eliza to allow us to prove our worth.” 

Sidney’s eyes darkened to a thunderous hue. 

“Never again say her name in my presence.” he spat. “She is why Charlotte is bed bound and why I will not have a child come the spring.” his angry voice echoed through the house and he suddenly worried it would frighten the children. 

Mary covered her mouth in horror. 

Sidney shook his head, dispelling the anger. “You couldn’t have known. I did not know.”

Tom stood stunned a moment then turned and went to the chair and hung his head. Silence hung between the three of them for some time before Tom raised his defeated head. 

“It is all my fault. You told me as much when I came to you begging for you to intervene.” he shook his head. “I asked that woman to Sanditon. I wanted her investment. I wanted you to marry her.” 

Sidney nodded his head. “And I approached her at the Ball in London. That action gave you hope.” he sighed as he went to the drink stand, still, well-stocked which he was grateful for, and poured himself and Tom a glass. A peace offering. 

Tom shook his head but still took the offered drink. His face, broken. “No, brother. I saw you with Charlotte. I saw your feelings growing.” he closed his eyes. “I also saw Mrs. Campion across the room and my chance there. I could see you would not have let go of Charlotte’s hand had I not first stepped in for a dance and freed you up.” he looked to his wife and sighed. “See my dear, I am not a good, and honorable man. I know you kept hoping Sidney’s eyes would light on Charlotte. You said as much before he even came here. Though I doubted he had any interest in her.” 

Sidney threw the drink back and smiled. “Well, I thank you for telling me that. It makes me see things only a little different. But as I told you in London, how can a man begin to make amends until he is willing to face his own faults?” he said to him. “I could have waited for my wife. For she was my wife that night.” he shook his head in regret. “I should have had eyes for only her.” 

Mary dabbed at falling tears as she sniffed in the shadows since they had taken to burning few candles. 

“In speaking to that woman I opened Pandora's box,” Sidney said bluntly. “And though this may be a satisfactory conclusion to the financial situation, it is far from my picture of ideal the way we got here.” 

Tom shook his head. “And just where is here?” 

Sidney shook his head. “That is for another visit, Tom. Just rest assured no bailiffs are coming for you, but please, no more credit, no more loans,” he said. “Live in your means, and stay out of the building plans of Sanditon for now. Your wife has missed you. Devote some time to your family.” he nodded. 

Tom blinked. “Of course. We could travel to Brighton, see how it is comparing these days! The season is over.” he said. 

Sidney nodded. “That might be just the ticket. Just don't come back with any ideas.” he drank a final shot. “Is Arthur about?” he asked. 

Tom shook his head. “No, Arthur and Diana wanted to go to London after they heard of the accident with Charlotte. I know they have not visited but they wanted to be a shorter distance should there be any change in news.” 

“Should we not come to London and help with her recovery?” Mary asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, I think for now you should focus on your family and getting your house back in order,” he said simply. “I best be on my way. I have a long journey.” 

Mary shook her head. “But Sidney, it is night? You intend on riding through?” 

“She is in more pain than I can imagine…” he closed his eyes. “Tortured by things I have inadvertently done… Hurt by a woman she thought I still loved.” he shook his head. “I can’t leave her alone to all that. I only left to tell her family of the marriage because they were still ignorant and to stand present at Lord Babington’s wedding, and now that has been concluded I had a little business with Mr. Stringer at the Crown, then from there I am off.” 

Mary nodded. “Well alright, but I hope to see you both soon.” 

He shook his head. “Her recovery is my main focus. After that is over I will let her guide me for a time,” he said with a filling breath. “As it should be.” 

Mary smiled tearfully as she felt free from this horrible crushing weight, and broken from this confession from Sidney. 

“I am happy for you Sidney.” she shook her head. “I know it has been a tough number of weeks, but you are in love in such a way I have never seen.” she blinked. “It is really very moving.” 

He nodded. “I could not agree more Mary.” 

Tom blinked at his transformed emotional brother before him. “I am sorry for everything Sidney,” he said as Sidney turned. 

Turning back around he nodded. “All is forgiven, Tom.” He took a sigh as he stepped out. “We just deserve to be us for a time.” 

Mary nodded. “Indeed.” 

——

Entering the common room of the Crown, Sidney found Mr. Stringer already at a table with a drink and a pitcher.

“Ah, Mr. Parker,” he said and poured him some ale. 

Coming to the corner table. “Apologies for my tardiness, I had to stop in at Trafalgar house before coming here,” he said. 

Mr. Stringer looker haggard. “Haven’t waited long. Been a lot to catch up on,” he said rubbing his face. 

Pulling out his leather-bound satchel Sidney laid it on the table for him. “I am trusting you to manage the payment of the workers. In the past, I would have left it to Tom, but we all know how that went,” he said. “Inside there can be found provisions for the back pay for when the men were only being half paid. As well as all the month's Tom missed. I was able to tally it up and it should all be there. For every worker. Trouble is… I hope they all stuck around to be paid” 

Mr. Stringer’s face morphed from exhausted to something more. 

“That is unexpected. I can track them all down. I know where everyone went.” he took the portfolio from him. “So, can we count on it staying like this?” 

Sidney frowned and took the drink poured for him. “Thank you.” 

“The building is restarted and it seems the word is from you. What has happened Mr. Parker?” Mr. Stringer asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Much.” 

Stringer looked down nervously and then up with determination. “I heard Ch-Mrs. Parker was injured,” he stated. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes. She is still recovering.” 

Mr. Stringer furrowed his brows at him in judgment. “Why are you not with her?” he demanded. “If she is recovering, should she not need you?” 

Sidney nodded. “I believe she does. That is why I am in a right hurry to get back to her tonight,” he said. “But I had family matters to attend to first.” 

The architect's face looked sour. “How'd happen’?” he asked. 

Sidney clenched his teeth. “She was thrown from a horse.” 

Mr. Stringer nodded. “Did she not know how to ride?” 

Sidney shook his head. “No, she was splendid on the horse.” 

Looking down at the table before him the man seemed to try to compute that information. “I hope she gets well real soon, sir,” he said. 

Sidney nodded. “Thank you. Do not see Tom for anything, questions, designs, nothing do you understand? Send letters directly to me. I see this will be slower progress, but Tom will bungle everything anyway if given opportunity.” 

Mr. Stringer nodded. “Aye, sir.” 

He put out his hand and Mr. Stringer took it. “Give Charlotte my regards and wishes for a speedy recovery.” He said while Sidney had to try not to let it bother him. Instead, he just nodded. 

Mr. Stringer picked up the portfolio. “I will take this and be on my way to that you can as well. I am sure your wife will require you.” 

Sidney nodded and reached out his hand. “I thank you, Mr. Stringer. For sticking around, I know there must have been other opportunities.” 

The man nodded. “There have Sir. But it seems my work is most needed here.” 

“Well, I won't soon forget it. I hope your father is feeling well,” he said. “I would like to pay him an extra wage to stay home another month if he would but accept it.” 

Mr. Stringer shook his head. “My father isn’t a man to take any charity. He would not hear of it.” 

Parting Sidney found he respected this rival more than he wished. He was a worthy man and in the future, he would do what he could to further his career when possible. 

—— 

Running up the stairs of the grand palatial house he did not even need to ring before a footman opened the door. 

“Mr. Sidney Parker I presume?” the man asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, my wife?” he asked. 

The man nodded. “This way.” 

Sidney wanted to run straight through but the formality of the environment reminded him of his trained manners. Though he knew very well how to be a perfect rouge, he was well trained. 

“Oh, good heaven’s Mr. Parker, you have made it here quickly. Was not Lord Babington’s wedding just yesterday?” Lady Worcester asked coming in from the parlor. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes. I had gotten word that Charlotte had been moved.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “Ah yes, grand news actually. The physician was worried she was developing a lung complaint, and wished to have her up now, and is slinging her arm to her chest. With almost two weeks of healing, he thinks it might be safe enough for her to move some.” 

He looked upstairs. “Please, show me to her.” he requested. 

She nodded. “Of course. Though I think I should warn her. She would probably like her hair brushed out, you know how ladies are.” 

He nodded but did not care. He wanted to run. 

“Come, have a cup of brandy while you wait and I will allow her sister to help her,” she said nodding to the maid to see it done. 

He went to the chair and tried to wait anxiously while exchanging pleasantries but sitting would not do so he stood. 

Lady Susan smiled to see him so anxious but then her frown dropped. “She is very sad, you know.” 

Sidney nodded. “I know.” he sighed. “But we will find reasons to smile again, and soon.” 

“Yes, I dare say you will.” she looked to the servant who had now come. 

“Mrs. Parker says she is ready milady.” she smiled and curtsied. 

“Thank you, Pauline.” Lady Susan said and stood. “Come, I will show you if only to make sure Alison leaves the room. That girl is an utter wolf, or perhaps a bear. She would do very well in society if tamed and trained, but I fear she is too wild. Where I see our Charlotte is a little fox.”

Sidney found this insight valuable because he intended on having Alison live with them for a time in London, even after Charlotte’s recovery. It was customary in their society. And since there were ever so many children at home in the Heywood family, they would need to be married off and the best possibility of finding a wealthy husband would be there in London.

He had even discussed it with Mr. Heywood before departing Willingden and the man held reservation but was clear if his second daughter was debauched he would hold the Parker family personally to fault. 

Lady Susan entered the comfortable guest room, first finding Charlotte sitting up in a lovely clean shift. Her hair was brushed out. Her cheeks looked hollow, and her eyes red from crying. 

“Miss Heywood,” he nodded in greeting formally to his sister-in-law, but his eyes did not leave his wife’s. 

“Yes, my dear, let us allow these two their privacy.” Lady Worcester said taking the girl who rolled her eyes in the way of young girls. 

Sidney looked at his wife and he smiled as his eyes again filled with tears. 

When he had been away and recalled her imaged she was far from broken in his memory. It was always the memory on the cliffs first. The wind blowing her wild unbound hair. Her pink cheeks, full of health and vitality. 

“You have come back so soon.” strained voice broke the silence that yawned between them. 

He looked down and stepped closer to the bed. 

“I am sure you can imagine why,” he said. “I told you before I left I was not going to let you face this alone. I can’t face it alone,” he said easing himself next to her on the bed. “How our problems can be solved at one stroke, but at what cost?” 

She frowned. “At what cost?”

He took her hand. “Do you remember I told you that I would explain all, once you had recovered more?” he asked. 

She nodded and braced herself. Her good hand's fingers went to clutch at her bed covers but his hand instead reached for hers. 

He sighed reluctantly. “And are you now well enough to hear it?” 

She blinked. “It is bad isn’t it?” 

He nodded. “It is twisted, and difficult to bear,” he said simply. “But it is also redeeming and ironic, and a strange hand of karma but I am not sure why we suffered.” he shook his head. 

Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “What is it?” 

Closing his eyes he summoned the courage to tell her. “It was no accident, your fall.” he stroked her hand and then opened his eyes to look into her confused brown ones. “Mrs. Campion was angry at a loss she had over the expert shooting you exhibited on the green and she paid a stable boy to sabotage your horse.” 

The shock and anger that crossed her face he shared. 

“She meant you at the least humiliation with a minor fall, and at worst…” his voice could not finish the thought. 

Charlotte looked away. “I will heal. I almost lost my life but I will heal,” she said softly as gentle tears fell from her eyes. “Has she been brought to justice for the crime?” 

He nodded. “In a manner. Though not a traditional form you would say.” 

“What has been done?” 

He still held her hand to ground him. His thumb stroking back and forth. 

“Lady Susan found the stable boy, and she blackmailed Mrs. Campion. I had only just learned that she had just purchased all the investor's shares in the Sanditon project. I had only learned that some shares had been sold, but not to whom, then you were hurt. A letter came from Tom, I didn’t care to open it, I was too concerned over you. I suppose I am glad I did not, the next day Tom had come here to beg me to grovel.” he said with disgust. 

She shook her head. “and did you?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “No, and that was even before I learned of her treachery with the horse. I did not give a fig about anything while you and…” he struggled to speak. “While you were broken and losing a child. All of London could have been on fire and my warehouse burning and I wouldn't have given a damn,” he said simply. 

She blinked feeling his honesty but still aching from the information. 

“Then what happened?” she pressed. 

He relaxed. “Lady Susan had her cornered. Threatening her reputation. Unless she signed over the shares.” 

Charlotte gasped. “Signed them over?” she shook her head. “Impossible.” 

Sidney nodded. “Mrs. Campion acquired about sixty thousand pounds worth of shares for probably less than twenty-five for all. I have no real notion the exact figure she spent…” 

“Why did lady Denham do it?” she asked angry. “We were so close.” 

Sidney shook his head. “That is the twist my love, but let me get there first,” he whispered. “Lady Susan after taking possession of Sanditon shares then sent her off to wed her impoverished and indebted nephew. They eloped last week and she will live in the country and you will never again see her.” 

She frowned. “So she gets off scot-free?” 

Sidney nodded. “I agree, that is what it seems. I wanted to kill her myself but I have you to look after,” he said and kissed her good hand. 

“So Lady Susan is the shareholder?” she asked. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, she has no interest, as it would conflict with her good friend the Prince Regent and Brighton.” he smiled gently, and without celebration. “This is the bittersweet part my dearest. We now are the prime investors. Over Tom. And Arthur’s investment of course.” he said looking down not able to bear a horrified reaction from her. 

Charlotte sat silent for a time as if stunned by this revelation. 

“That is an odd occurrence.” she finally whispered. “But it is a balancing of things is it not?” she smiled as his eyes rose to her. 

She shrugged. “I mean, you can truly keep Tom's line now, and grow the town as it ought to be.” she blinked and squeezed his hand. “How was the wedding? Was it lovely?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Oh yes.” he smiled. “May I kiss you?” 

She nodded. “I wondered why you hadn’t.” 

Without answering his mouth crashed into hers. But the tenderness was overriding his passions. His hand was gentle as it cradled her neck. Not pulling her to him in any manner. Just steadying her. 

“I hurried back as fast as I could,” he whispered. 

Her forehead met his. “And my family? How did my father fare with the news?” 

Sidney smiled. “He is a fair man. I think I like him, for he does not like me at all.” 

Her lips pulled up in a smile and he leaned in again to kiss her again. 

——  
Lady Susan sat at her Coffee the next morning as Mr. Parker came down looking bed ragged. 

“Sleep well, Mr. Parker?” she asked. 

He sighed. “Oh, well I confess no,” he said. “I was up half the night pouring over figures and then reading to Charlotte while she was awake.” 

She nodded. “You should sleep. You rode in the carriage through the night and were up all day yesterday.” 

He sighed. “I can’t now. Her sister sits with her.” 

Susan smiled. “I have other rooms,” she said gesturing. “Come, how is the news of Sanditon? Is all in hand?” she asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, in no small part thanks to you.” 

Lady Susan nodded. “I do not need to be fawned over Mr. Parker. We are friends. If it is within my means, I would do much for Charlotte. She does not have the cunning many of us possess and I feel encouraged by it.” her eyes sparkle. “She tames my own wickedness.” 

Sidney found a soft smile spread as he came to join her at the breakfast table. “I believe I know just what you mean.” 

“How was she last night?” she asked. 

He sighed. “Troubled, I told her of-“ he cleared his throat. “She knows now,” he said as he poured his black coffee. 

Her hands put her cup aside. “She is strong Mr. Parker. She can handle such news.” 

Nodding he cleared his throat. “Charlotte may be stronger than I am,” he admitted. 

Her elegant brows rose and she nodded. “Of that my dear Mr. Parker I have no doubt, though you do have your own merits and strengths.” 

“Sidney,” he offered. “You have done so much, you should call me Sidney.” 

She nodded. “Then you should call me Susan,” she said simply. 

Sidney helped himself to a healthy spread and found himself more at ease now that he was under the same roof as his wife. 

“How was the visit too Willingden?” She probed. 

Sidney sighed. “Her father is quiet and severe I think.” he nodded. “The children are many in number. Where ever I turned there was another face, and I could not begin to remember anyone’s name,” he said. 

Lady Susan laughed. “That is often the way when a couple is very much in love.” her eyes flashed to him. “I am sure your home will be filled.” 

Sidney frowned a moment and thought. “Do you think?” his mind conjured the image of dark brown heads that filled the warm home and he smiled. 

She nodded. “I know it.” the maid took her plate.

“Doctor Foster has been very good with her, but she developed a lung complaint and changed the treatment as a result. We now must make her moved about a little, but she has other bruising on her body I am not sure you are aware of.” 

He cursed and put his fork and knife down hastily. “Forgive me,” he said. “I still have trouble accepting that she has gone through so much.” 

She nodded. “Yes, but remember. She can handle it.” 

——

Sidney went back and forth from Bedford place to manage his work. He could not be bothered to move his entire office to Lady Susan’s address so he was obliged to leave through most of the day, but he managed to be present through the majority of it whenever possible. He made it his business that Charlotte was his first priority. 

She could see it and it was exhausting him.

Her arm was mending and she was itching to move it about, but the splinting kept it steady, and her wrist still ached something awful because she still had the instinct to move it from time to time. 

Dr. Foster warned her if she kept doing that it would pain her for life so she tried very hard to do as instructed. 

But her collarbone was healing nicely he said and now that she was up and about the room her lung complaint was easing as she sat close to the fire regularly. 

Now a full three weeks from the accident she was feeling more herself. Her hand over her empty stomach she wondered if it would have been rounding by now. Probably not. 

She would have likely only then been facing the realities that she was late in her courses. Perhaps even seeing a physician and telling Sidney of her suspicions. But that was not to be. But there were consolations she thought with a sigh and looked up as Alison read to her a novel. One that she seemed into but Charlotte was not listening or attending to in the least while she sat with her private thoughts. 

Suddenly the book snapped closed. “I am so bored.” Alison moaned. 

Charlotte smiled for she agreed. There seemed to be nothing to do with being in her recuperation and her sister trapped within it. 

“I know.” she agreed. “I think we should go to Bedford Place.” 

Alison blinked confused. “I thought you all decided here would be better to heal?” 

Charlotte looked about. “Seems I can sit about anywhere, and the servants are just as good there as they are here, if not as plentiful,” she said. “And my husband does not need to exhaust himself by going to and fro each day,” she said with a heavy sigh that caused her to wince. 

“Have you broached the subject with Lady Susan?” she asked. 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, but I do think she would understand.” 

“Of course I would my dear. I think it a perfect idea.” Lady Susan smiled coming into the room. “Allow me to start the preparations. Your husband would be delighted too, I would assume.” 

Charlotte blushed. 

“Don’t worry, I think it is right. You are well and like I told your husband you are stronger than you know. Let your mind and heart guide you.” Susan smiled. 

—— 

Sidney frowned as he emerged from his office that afternoon. A note had been sent for the servants to prepare a dinner which confused him but the letter had been penned in Lady Susans hand so he did not dismiss it. He just went back to his work. But when the trunk arrived and Charlotte was being helped into the house he burst from the room and raced down the steps. 

“Charlotte, what do you do here?” he asked. 

She laughed and smiled at his surprise. “I wished to be home.” 

He scooped her up in his arms and he kissed her forehead as he brought her inside feeling his insides fill to burst. The last they were there together it had been passionate and precarious. But now, all was possible.

“Shall I send for Georgiana at her earliest convenience.” he said sitting her down in their parlor.

Alison ever the outspoken. “I can go Mr. Parker.” she said. “I have been eager to see Sanditon.”

He shook his head. “She will have someone to come with her. You will like her I think. Two peas in a pod they will be, don’t you think Mrs. Parker?” he asked Charlotte his hand on her good shoulder. 

She smiled. “Oh dear, If you thought I was a bad influence on her I fear what you will think of my sister.” 

“I am right here.” Alison said with a glare. 

Charlotte smiled. “I know.” she teased. “And I know you best Ally.” 

Sidney kissed her hand. “So should I send for her?” 

Charlotte shook her head. “No, I think we ought to all go to Sanditon for the end of the summer. See out the season.” 

Sidney looked gravely serious. “My dear you are not yet fully recovered and it is nearly October. Summer has come and gone. The weather was barely warm enough for an outdoor wedding for Babington and Esther. And think of what the journey would do.” 

She sighed. “I suppose you are right. I am just eager to see it all finished. I can tell it is nearly done. So many letters going to and fro from here.” she said. 

He sighed. “Yes, I am sorry to be an overly concerned husband my dearest, but I will not be deterred on this, my love. We will not be taking any long carriage rides through the countryside for at a minimum three more months.” he said kissing her head. “I will go write to Georgiana, it wont be but a moment. She has been awaiting me to send for her.” 

“He dotes on you.” her sister observed. “However did you get such a disagreeable man to turn round so ever much sister?” 

Charlotte looked down and shook her head. “I don’t rightly know. I just spoke my mind and most often it was to tell him off.” 

Her sisters eyes looked deep in thought as she looked around. “So this is where you will live?” she asked looking around at the fine home on a reasonably fashionable street in London. 

Charlotte nodded. “It is supposed to be Tom’s house, but since Sidney lives here and maintains it he basically has taken it over. I suppose if we had to we would has some other home.” 

“Some place grander.” he said now he had returned. “We would move to a better side of town I believe if that be your wish.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “I wish nothing of the sort at this time if it is not a necessity.” she bit her lip and rolled her eyes. “There has really been enough expense of late.” 

He nodded and came to her. “Do you wish to go and change into something more comfortable my dear?” he asked. 

She nodded. “I do. Perhaps you could assist me?” she asked feeling bold for the first time since their kiss in the stables before the accident. 

His mouth went dry and he pulled at his collar and glanced at his sister in-law who smirked. 

“The servants will show you to your room.” he said to Alison and then turned to Charlotte and went to pick her up. 

“I can stand.” she said and went to move but she shook his head. 

Impatient he gently scooped her up, careful not to overly jar her bad arm. 

“I said I could-“ she started but his mouth covered hers in the foyer as he silenced her protest with a brief kiss. 

“Shh.” he whispered. “When you are well, I will have little excuse to be hauling you about. I want to take advantage where I can.” he said. “Besides I did not get the chance to woo you now did I?” he said as he climbed the stairs. 

She bit her lip and smiled as he knew he would not find it so easy to climb the stair, but then she laughed to see that he did. 

“Well aren’t you the great beast of burden Mr. Parker?” she giggled. 

He nodded. “For you, my own Mrs. Parker I would carry any load.” he said huskily. “Metaphoric, of course.”

——

Past the fourth week, Charlotte was sitting in the dayroom when Sidney came home before dinner with Mr. Crowe. 

“Have another setting laid my dearest, Mr. Crowe will be staying to dine.” Sidney smiled. 

Crowe rolled his eyes. “Only because your husband insists. I had plans to go to-“ his voice stopped suddenly. “Oh, Miss Heywood…” his voice dropped. “I had not expected you to still be here.” 

The girl looked at him unenthusiastically. “Ah, Mr. Crowe…The heroic book bringer.” she looked down to her book uninterested. 

Charlotte looked between them. “Oh yes, you two have met.” 

He nodded. “Oh briefly. When I brought you the copy of Heraclitus that your husband begged me to find you. Your sister was most…careful who to allow near you.” 

“Was she?” Charlotte asked. 

Sidney laughed knowing the threat Crowe had made about seducing Charlotte if he were to leave England. All that while she was unconscious. 

“Then I owe her a debt of gratitude.” Sidney laughed. “Come, let us have a drink, my friend.” 

Crowe shook his head. “You wound me, Sidney,” he said and looked shyly to Alison. “You and Mrs. Parker are my dear friends.” 

Sidney nodded. “And so we are, but we also dearly love to tease do we not?” he asked. 

He nodded, “But I am afeared the young Miss Heywood would not understand our humor and already thinks me a cad.” 

“Since when has that ever bothered you?” He asked and then his brows furrowed. 

His hand on Crowe’s shoulder Sidney paused a moment and a dawning of understanding crossed his features. Could it be Cupid's bow had finally pierced this devil's heart? He smiled and looked at the young fresh-faced girl who reminded him much of Charlotte but yet markedly different. 

“Of course.” he nodded. “We but jest with each other.” 

Charlotte’s eyes frowned confused at the exchange between the men. 

——

It had been five weeks and she tested her arm. It felt well enough to move but she did not risk anything as Dr. Foster forbade for another month from attempting to lift or bear any weight on it. And still, she felt the need to sling it, perhaps it had become a comfort to her. And upon occasion, her collarbone still pained her. 

She had become slightly dependent on the drops but had told her husband to keep them from her a while before and only use it to help her sleep when the pain was too great. But that had all stopped.

The requirement of using it less was the result until none was required at all.

“Have you had your courses again since the event?” Dr. Foster asked as he finished his examination. 

She nodded. 

He smiled. “Good, then all has resumed as should be.” he smiled. “You can try again.” 

Charlotte frowned. “Now?” she asked. “Could we, now?” 

He shrugged. “You could have another few weeks for healing of course, but if-“ he stopped. “Another few weeks would not hurt.” he smiled. 

She furrowed her brow. “But would I break?” she asked. 

He laughed. “Heavens no, unless your husband is a brutal man. No, your bones are set enough. They are just sore I imagine.” 

She bit her lip. “So, it is safe?” she asked. 

The man blushed and packed his bag. “Mrs. Parker, I believe it safe if it were gentle and slow.” his hand shook as he dropped his things and popped the bag closed quickly, and nodded. 

Charlotte blushed crimson. 

“I will come by next week to check on you in say two weeks this time?” he asked. “You seem well on the mend.” 

Charlotte nodded. “Yes, thank you. Good day, Mr. Foster.” 

Her cheeks burned brightly as she thought about what this meant.

Memories assailed her on how their lovemaking was often frantic and needy. It was gentle at first. Timid even. But, by the time of the accident, it was an inferno that engulfed them when they merged and she did not know it they could hold back. If she could. 

Biting her lip she rang the bell. 

“Yes ma’am?” 

Charlotte turned. “Please draw me a bath,” she said and her breath came in short gasps. 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

——

Sidney had to go out that night. There was a mix up with the shipments at the docks and he had been a little roughed up by some merchant sailors. But it had been worked out in the end. 

Opening the door to his bedroom he found his wife abed seemingly asleep. Smiling he leaned over her and then she turned and smiled. 

“So you were out late Mr. Parker. You missed a very fine supper,” she whispered. 

He nodded and pressed his lips against hers as he had taken to doing again more and more urgently as the days drug on. His need growing stronger. His trousers feeling tighter each day and yet feeling a horrible man for wanting her as he did. 

Scarcely a month before and barely on the mend she did not need him pawing her. 

“Dr. Foster was here. He-“ she swallowed. “We can resume... intimacies.” 

He shook his head. “You can't be ready for that.” he shook his head. Internally he was like a wound coil ready to spring but fear was like a stone wall before him. 

Her head shook. “It can't be like it was… It needs to be like the first time.” she blushed. “Careful. Gentle,” she said nervously. 

He closed his eyes. “Charlotte,” his hand touched her face. “I need more time, and you could use more healing I am certain of it. I would be very angry if I hurt you even a little, and for my pleasure?” he cringed disgusted. 

She shook her head. “I think you forget I enjoy the activity very much myself,” she said honestly. 

He felt his mouth go dry. “I am not ready. I could lose myself all too easily,” he said running his hand down her body. His fingers felt her nipple under his hand and his body hardened and his hand moved lower to her waist before he moved from her. 

She nodded. “I thought so.” she nodded. “No matter.” she smiled. “If you have any doubts you could speak to the doctor Foster yourself. I think he would discuss the topic better with you.” she bit her lip. “I had more questions, but I do not think he felt capable of answering them without significant discomfort on the subject with me.” 

He sighed and pulled at his necktie, disquieted with the knowledge that she wanted to start again but he was perhaps overly cautious. “Perhaps in a week, or two.” 

She nodded. “He said he would return to check on me in two weeks since I was on the mend.” 

“How has Georgiana been settling?” he said eager to change the subject and forget the bulge that had formed in his trousers. 

Charlotte smiled. “Seems thrilled with her new friend. Seems I am now a third wheel.” 

He turned and smiled. “Good,” he said. “Better she be occupied so that I have you all to myself. Once you are better I wish you to take a more active role with me, at least for as long as you wish it.”

“With you?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Well, not on my nightly work, some accounting and organizing that I know you excel at, and your company in those errands on the odd occasion would bring me entertainment. That is if you wish it.” 

She smiled. “Yes, I wish it. I would love to see what you do. Tom never really explained it to me.” 

He nodded. “Well, that is because I do a lot of odd things here and there. But I would do better if I could keep better track of it all, and could trust the person to do it right. Can I trust you Charlotte?” he asked. 

She blushed. “Me?” 

He walked closer. “Yes, you.” he had now unbuttoned his vest. “Yes, you. We will be managing far more than Sanditon, my love,” he whispered. 

She shrugged. “Sounds fun.” 

He smiled. “Does it my dear?” 

Grinning she felt his kisses and they were all the sweeter. 

——

Sidney had marked on the calendar when Dr. foster would come but did not stop him from being all the more anxious. 

Two weeks passed slowly and it was proving harder to not touch his wife when she so readily begged to be touched. So eagerly kissed him back. 

If he was a lesser man he would have cured himself of this ailment long ago and been done, but the distraction was consuming him to the point of uselessness.

He was waiting just outside and turned as the door opened. Holding his breath, he waited. 

“Ah yes, Mrs. Parker said you would wish to see me.” he cleared his throat. 

Sidney sighed and shook his head. “I do not want to appear crude,” 

The doctor put up his hand. “You are newly married. Eloped too, I heard the rumors. Love match. Crudeness is not necessary. I have an imagination.” the man chuckled. “Yes Mr. Parker, but gently. 

He shook his head. “That is my fear, that I cannot be.” 

The man blinked and scoffed. “Afraid you will run her through?” he chortled and covered his mouth ashamed with his dirty speech and hoped he could not be overheard. “Apologies. I assure you if you did not hurt her in that way before you will not now.” 

He swallowed and looked to the door behind the man. “Thank you, doctor. Is there anything else?” 

The man nodded. “No putting pressure on her collarbone, for a while yet.” he said simply, “and leave her arm and wrist alone and all will be well.” he smiled. “I wish you very good luck in resuming your conjugal relations. Good day to you Mr. Parker, my services will not be needed any longer, I am sure.” he laughed as the man lifted his can brightly. 

“You have my thanks. What luck we had you there that day,” he said and soon he was alone in the day parlor and watched him leave to the carriage as he poured himself a drink to think it over on. 

Georgiana and Alison were laughing in the other room oblivious to the conversation he had just had. 

——

Through dinner, Sidney’s eyes lighted on his wife with a reservation he hardly knew how to contend with. 

“Haven’t you heard a word I have said, Sidney?” Georgiana said with a tartness that caught his attention. 

“Sorry?” he asked. 

Her huff and the answering roll of his eye was all the reply she needed. 

Charlotte looked at him with a concerned frown. “There must be much on your mind?” she said chewing her food. Her arm was without its sling but her wrist was still bound loosely. 

He glanced at her then back to Georgiana and nodded. “Indeed there is. Nothing to trouble any of you ladies over,” he said looking to the women that graced his dinner table. 

Bradford Place had never been more active, or warm. He had little occasion to carouse night after night with Babers or Crowe. Lord Babington found less occasion to find himself in the club anyway setting Crowe upon his path begging a dinner invitation more often than not. 

Growing suspicious of the man he was astounded at the tongue lashings the man was willing to contend with just for a few hours with the young Miss Heywood who did not seem to wish to grant him any hope and much like Lord Babington with Esther in their courtship it seemed to make him all the more eager. 

“I was just saying, that I should like to go to the poetry reading in the candlelit tea hall tonight. It is said some notable poets will be doing readings,” she said again more impatiently than she did the first time. 

He took a drink of wine and nodded. “Ah, well…” he drank. “Were you also hoping to go my dear?” he asked. 

Charlotte shrugged. “The tea hall is very near, I suppose we could make an appearance,” she said but then frowned. 

“What is it?” Alison asked knowing her sister's expressions well. 

Charlotte sighed. “I just think I am a little tired. To go out now, after dinner when I wasn’t planning on it just feels overwhelming.” she looked at her friend apologetically. “But I am certain I could rally.” she straightened herself. 

Sidney shook his head. “No, I shall inquire if the Douglas’s next door wish to attend. They could chaperone the young ladies if they have the same intentions. Mrs. Douglas enjoys poetry and I imagine she has made plans for it already. Please excuse me, I will inquire with their footman first before I bother them with further request.” 

Charlotte smiled as she watched him stand and come to her and kiss her cheek. He was always so attentive when he left the room, never forgetting to kiss her cheek before or greet her with one when he returned. 

But the formality of it she knew was reserved. 

Returning a scant five minutes later, he had happy enough news with another kiss to her cheek only this time it was the other side. 

Mrs. Douglas was a middle-aged woman with no children of her own and a scandalously romantic woman herself so naturally, the young ladies did not have any trouble with her as their chaperone. Because she made both a diverting and a poor one. But Sidney knew there was little trouble to be found at a poetry reading. 

As the ladies but on their pelisse’s and scarfs he cleared his throat and looked to Charlotte. 

“Should I attend to them?” he asked her opinion. “Do you think they will behave themselves with Mrs. Douglas?” 

Charlotte shook her head. “Probably not.” she smiled, and her eyes creased. “But I rather you stay and let them make some mistakes. Georgiana should have learned some lessons by now, do you not think?” she asked. 

Sidney nodded feeling his own shy smile widen. “I would hope so, and if not then there is no hope for her.” 

Alison smiled and waved while Georgiana just rolled her eyes and grabbed at her arm to drag her out the door. “Come on!” she said. 

“I hope you have a lovely time,” Charlotte said. 

Georgiana smiled. “Don’t wait up!” 

Sidney sighed. “You know I will Georgiana,” 

——

Charlotte went up to their room first to prepare for bed. He needed a moment alone to himself. He had hoped Georgiana and Alison would have returned by now. His anxiety of their tardiness and his thoughts of what the doctor had permitted had him filling his glass of port a third time but he stopped himself. 

What a fool he would be to be dipping rather deep and forget himself. Putting the crystal decanter back heavily he pulled at his necktie with a curse. 

Looking at himself in the small mirror he lifted the small amount that had poured out. “You Sidney Parker are a bloody coward,” he said with some mirth, but mostly honest judgment as he threw the dark contents back. 

“Yes you are.” came a voice that caught him off guard. 

He turned to find his wife in a lovely sage-colored banyan styled silk robe. new from the looks of it. Cinched at the waist with a knotted tie and button, revealing a dressing gown designed to entice. Her hair longer hung past her shoulders, teased at her generous curves. 

The glass he went to put aside missed its mark and tumbled from its intended perch and he fumbled to catch it. 

“Charlotte,” he said breathlessly as he attempted to correct his foible. 

Just then they heard the commotion from the stoop as Georgiana and Alison had finally decided to make their return. 

“I was just…” he said looking to her hungrily as the ladies came in 

“Oh, Charlotte!” Georgiana said coming inside looking her up and down. “My, don’t we look nice tonight.” she then looked to her left to Sidney and her brow quirked up. “But the attire is out of place do not you think Sidney? Should you not rectify that?” she asked and looked to Charlotte’s sister who was covering her mouth which was smiling from ear to ear. And her cheeks were blushing profusely. 

Sidney could not manage a retort. Instead, he just averted his gaze and sighed most aggravated. 

“You ladies were very late,” he said looking at his watch.

Georgiana shrugged. “Were we not at the mercy of our chaperone?” She asked. “She wanted a signature from Lord Byron.” 

Sidney put his hands on his hips and turned now filled with frustration. “That rake was there?” 

“Says the man inviting Mr. Crowe night after night.” Georgiana retorted. “Come, Alison, let us get ready for bed in my room and let them…to their own revelries. I am quite sure we interrupted something.” 

Hands still planted on his hips he shook his head. “I knew I should have gone.” 

Charlotte turned feeling forgotten and her pride, dented. 

Hearing nothing from her he came round again and found the space she once was vacant and went to look up the stair to find himself alone. 

Wasting no time now he moved to the landing and the door to their room and found her already putting the Banyan back in the box it had come. 

Tears in her eyes. 

“No matter what I do, I never step right.” he lamented closing the door behind him as he unbuttoned himself. 

She closed her eyes. “I am tired, forget about it.” 

He did not believe her. Pilling at his necktie he ripped it from his neck. 

“No, you are a poor liar, just as I am a coward,” he said coming to her. “Where did you get the robe?” he asked. 

Charlotte looked bitter and not wishing to discuss it. “Lady Susan. I am sending it back. It made no difference.” 

Swallowing had grown difficult as he knew she felt hurt, humiliated, and rejected. 

His hand reached both of hers as she lifted the light lid back onto the box. “No, you most certainly will not.” the way his hands held hers reminded him of when they had rowed the boat together. They needed to move again as one but she had been brave, and now he had scared her into timidity. He would need to coax her out again. Like before. 

His hand reached under her chin. “I liked the robe very much… but it is what is under it that is what flusters me so,” he whispered. “If I were to hurt you even a little…” 

Charlotte shook her head. “You did hurt me. You pull from me.” she looked from him. “I care not for the physical pain. I hardly feel it anymore.” 

He nodded. “When we come together again, I don’t wish you to think of what happened.” 

Charlotte blinked and looked down seriously. “How can I not? At least at first, but for the joy of it. That we can be as one again, and Eliza is now Lady Peasley and stuck in a ruin in Lincolnshire never to return to London. That Sanditon is saved, that Tom is not obsessed with a town he cannot build alone. That you are with me.” she explained. “I will think of it, but the joy of it all.” 

Her eyes were full of tears and he gently wiped at them with the thumbs of his hands. His eyes drinking in her goodness, in awe of her optimism and her perspective and he cradled her face, and his mouth covered hers in earnest. 

“Then wife,” he said leaning close. The timbre of his voice pulling her in as it always did. “Let us begin anew.” 

His forehead pressed against hers before his lips did. As if theirs would always be a meeting of the minds first before all things


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I started this on October 18, 2020 and it was finished and fully uploaded on November 18, 2020. 
> 
> Thank you for joining me on this journey! It has been fun! An 83k word Novel I wrote in a whole month. (I actually wrote 100k, but about 20k words got tossed, but that is the way of writing. Lol. But this was a new level. I have never stuck to a project without also writing up to three other stories at once. 
> 
> So, I guess, that I can write a dang big fat novel in a month. Woza. :) Thanks for all the love and support. I would not have done it without all of you. 
> 
> To you Sanditon Sisterhood. It has all been for you.

EPILOGUE 

July the following year, 

Sanditon Regatta, 

Charlotte looked across the waters of the mouth of the river of Sanditon. The race had been won this year by the Parker brothers, but she chose not to remain for the celebratory festivities after the announcements. Longing for the solitude away from the bustle of the visiting London Beau Monde. To be alone for a moment as a smile played on her lips. 

Ten months of London life had left traces of sophistication upon her countenance but now she had let her hair down away from it all. Nutbrown spiral tendrils blew wildly about her face and she let it free her for a moment. 

Although she knew just about all the Bon Ton now and moved affably among them, the simple life of the south appealed to her more. 

Though Sanditon was not as devoid of diversion or activity as her home village of Willingden had been through her upbringing, it was vastly less overwhelming than London. 

Here among the bustle and shops, she could still walk barefoot on the sandy beaches in the mornings when no one was about, just her and her husband hand in hand. Or walk alone along the long grass in the meadows with her petticoats damp without worry of who would take notice. 

No matter where you went or what you did, one always required accompaniment in London, but here she felt able to just be. As she had been when she was a child. Even among so many children in such a large household. 

“My wayward wife.” came the sweetly sarcastic accusation. 

She turned and threw him a coy smile. “Wayward am I? Yesterday I was obstinant, the day before headstrong.”

Sidney came near with a smile and caught up with her. “What do you do over here?” 

She looked around. “Reminisce.” 

Looking at the spot she stood now with better awareness he nodded. “Ah yes. I do believe this was our first moment of disarmament, for who could fight in front of children?” he said coming closer to her with a sentimental smile on his face. 

She laughed. “Not even you, I suppose. I didn’t want to like you, you know.”

He chuckled and pursed his lips. “I can’t imagine I gave you an inducement to do so.” he took her hand and brought it to his lips with a smile that crinkled the corner of his eyes. 

She laughed openly at that. “No, you did not.” she rolled her eyes and sighed. “I think you tried very hard to frighten me away.” 

He nodded. “I suppose I did, for you were actually the more terrifying creature I had encountered for some time,” he said coming closer. “Beautiful, fresh, young innocent…with the sharpest tongue. How was I to defend myself?” 

She giggled as he bent forward and kissed her breathlessly under the breezy boughs of the oak tree. 

“Come, I wish to talk to you about something,” he said seriously a moment later as he took her hand in his and through his arm. 

Her eyes furrowed. Her husband's face had become rather serious. 

“I want your opinion on something.” he started. 

She nodded and looked at him sidelong. “Sounds very grave. Is it bad news?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “It means rather big changes.” 

She elbowed him impatiently. “Husband,” 

Sidney smiled boyishly as he did when she seemed to chide him. “Of course dearest. As you may have noticed there is no Bank in Sanditon, Lord Babington, Mr. Crowe and myself are of a mind to found the first one.” 

Charlotte blinked and her mouth opened. “A bank?” 

He nodded. “You see, the apartments do well enough but not to expand, and if we are to improve this town fast enough to make it worth our while in our lifetime and not our grand children’s we are going to need to diversify our approach. And I don’t want to bring in investors on the building project, but a bank is another story entirely. Banks are seldom owned by one man. Who would trust them?” he said. 

She nodded. “Makes sense. What does that mean for us?” 

He sighed. “Well, I would sell my warehouse.” 

She shook her head. “But your business?” she shook her head. 

He nodded. “Has given me many a black eye. It is perhaps time I move into another profession.” 

She frowned. “Would we stay in London?” 

He looked down at her and shook his head. “No, I mean I will be required to go there often. Perhaps more often than you wish, but not for weeks at a time. Mere days at most.” he said simply. “And you will come with me,” he said slowing his step and touching her cheek. “Unless you tire of it.” 

“Will the Babington’s be moving here too?” she asked. 

Sidney nodded. “Yes, Esther has already planned to have her confinement here. Lady Denham is thrilled.” 

Charlotte frowned. “So this is all decided?” 

Sidney shook his head. “Not for my part in it. They don’t need me but would be all the better for it if I did join them. And we would as well.” 

She bit her lip. “Where will we live, in the apartments we are in now?” she asked concerned.

Sidney shook his head. “I suppose you have not heard the news, what with you wandering off after the ribbon ceremony.” 

Charlotte shook her head. “News?” her head felt a little dizzy. 

“Crowe proposed to your sister this afternoon and I am shocked to report that she said yes.” he laughed. “He has been grinning like a fool. Blames his joy on why he lost the race for his team.” 

Her mouth dropped. “He went to my father?” she asked. 

Sidney nodded with a laugh. “Yes, and the coward almost didn’t go through with it, twice. Came back to the Crown, tail tucked tween his legs and had to be bolstered many a time by Babington and Mr. Stringer.” 

Charlotte laughed. “I sometimes regret to have never seen the effect he had on you. You never seem to be afraid of anything.” 

He laughed outright at that. “Besides you, and you’re tongue lashings dearest one?” he chuckled. “No, I was terrified of your father, but had I not been there to tell him of my dishonorable conduct? If I had been more like Crowe and there borne out of honorable intentions I may have not been so intimidated.” he rationalized. 

“And she said yes?” she sighed. “I am surprised. She acted as she hated him.” 

“Much like we did?” his gentle voice asked.

She laughed her eyes. “But did we hate each other?” 

He shook his head. “No, Charlotte. The more I ponder it, it must have been love at first sight but with so much of my past to contend with I mistreated you but like I just confessed you frightened me. I had no interest in love.” 

She blinked at him astounded. “Love at first sight?” 

“Aren’t we getting a little off subject now my dear?” he asked amused. “The bank, and the apartment…” 

Bracing herself on her husband's arm she laughed but took a calming breath. “Right, the apartment. Still, there is Georgiana,”

Sidney’s deep frown creased his brow. “My dearest, you have never voiced issue with Georgiana before.” 

Charlotte took a calming breath and turned to face him. “And I truly don’t now.” she took his hand. “Sidney,” her voice hitched. “I saw Doctor Fuchs, I wanted to wait to be certain. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. And now I am.” 

His eyes, dark and deep roved her face confused a moment and then looked down. A chill swept him and he felt his other hand cover hers. 

“A child?” he looked down between them as tears clouded his vision. “When?” 

She blinked. “Can’t be certain, but perhaps January, or February he said.” 

He took a filling breath and a smile broke upon his face. 

“Life is so strange,” he said softly as he kissed her hands as tears fell on to theirs joined. 

She too cried. “Why?” 

He looked around them. “When we were alone together, rowing in the boat talking of marriage and a future, one year ago…my hand on yours I imagined children with you. Longed for them and here I learn I am to be a father…It is the greatest feeling, my love.” 

Joy washed over them as they came to their new path together. Parents and a new home. 

She smiled. “So you see why I am concerned about the size of the apartment?” 

He nodded. “Of course. We shall need to wait until the season is over to move into a larger one, but I am sure we can take our pick.”

She smiled as he reached for her.

“So, shall we be moving to Sanditon?” he asked. 

His admiral had given her nod of approval, that was all the signal he needed.

THE END.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry to tease you like this. 
> 
> No this is not a new chapter. This is an announcement. 
> 
> I have a short story entered into competition on the website Vocal in the Little Black Book challenge. It is worth big money. 
> 
> Every read will help me reach the goal of consideration. PLEASE READ, AS A FAVOR TO ME. 
> 
> https://vocal.media/stories/call-of-the-black-book

I love you readers so much and cannot thank you for all your support, and just ask for a little more. MUCH LOVE!


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